Yes, Elton is a national treasure but he is not the Elgin Marbles, so it was with some stretching of the imagination that the City of Naples got a grant of $1 million to host an Elton John Concert, as part of the EUs cultural budget allocation.
Now that a sceptical MEP has pointed this out, the European Commission has asked for the money back as, amazingly, even Elton John does not fall under the category of structural long-term investments.
4 comments:
The £30m grant to Twinings to move their tea factory from the UK to Poland to help to lower unemployment in Poland wasn't very popular with the 200 made unemployed in England.
The dog fitness centre was a bargain at £400K. Or the £40K to help Tyrol farmers feel at one with nature through mind therapy seems a good idea ;)
http://openeuropeblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/what-do-dog-fitness-centre-525m-fleet.html
I was for a long time a supporter of European integration. Helmut Kohl once said that he did not wish to put a German umbrella over Europe, he wished to put a European umbrella over Germany. he knew his country.
Well, it hasn't worked that way. Nicholas Ridley was the one who was right when he said that he had no objection in principle to devolovin gpowers to Europe, just not to 'this lot'. Taht cost him job in Thatcher's goverenmnt, she who signed away far more powers than Heath did. If she still had her health she would regret it all, bitterly.
Yet, the idea that we would regain sovereignty without the EU is an illusion. The imperial power of bigger economies sees to that. The parliament of the Netherlands has voted four times to legalise cannabis but the vote has never been passed into law. The Americans won't allow it.
Can someone please tell me how to get my hands on this Euro money. Seriously. The small charity I'm responsible for here is constantly scraping around charitable pots for money. We operate on just 3k a month but we have to jump through so many hoops to raise it. The 2 part time staff never know if they are going to get paid each month.
So - honestly - can anyone point me to the tricks I need to use to get my hands on all this Euro money that just sloshes around so I can put it to some good use.
RS, you can get a directory of benefactors. They mostly always insist you keep them a secret, so it is difficult to work out the likely punters.
I would steer clear of the EU and the local council unless you have a plum job for a failed asylum seeker or someone with an ankle monitor.
I would be interested to know more about this charity you are involved with.
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