Comment of the Day...

Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP has a latter in today's FT condemning, "the infuriatingly stupid claim by French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner that" he did not understand the workings of EU institutions. She put it on a par with the "boast during the referendum campaign by Ireland's EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevey and premier Brian Cowen that they had not read the Lisbon treaty".

She says these are attempts "to pose as populist 'one of the boys' or an admission that they are not fit to occupy [their] positions". She goes onto give a breakdown of the EU's workings in around ten lines, suggesting she may be right in her assertion that people in power across Europe, "ought to do better than my five-minute effort", when trying to understand the institutions they supposedly govern.

Here is what she said:

The European Union consists of 27 states which share some powers in a bid to deliver a secure, just, prosperous and sustainable future for their 500m citizens, and stability and progress in the world. The European Commission, consisting of former national politicians, draws up proposals for laws and helps implement and enforce them. Those laws are decided by MEPs, who are directly elected to the European parliament every five years, jointly with ministers of national governments comprising the Council. The latter also makes foreign and other policy decisions. National MPs scrutinise or call to account the activities of their governments in the Council. The European Court of Justice rules on the interpretation and claims of breach of EU law

The following is from commenter Dewi_Sant

Here are my ten lines...

Blackmail
Coercion
Fraud
Duress
Intimidation
Squeeze
Pressure
Extort
Bribe
Payoff