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January 2004 - Saving the Red Ensign
An issue came up in the parliament in January that illustrates (A) the awful depths of EU stupidity; (B) the way daft issues can sneak up and bite your ankle. There was a seemingly innocuous report on a proposal clarifying the rules for the transfer of registration of merchant vessels from one registering authority to another. But an Italian socialist sneaked in an amendment which would require the merchant shipping flags of all EU member-states to have the EU's wretched circle of yellow stars quartered-in.
This was supposed to make ships "more easily identifiable". The Euro-luvvies are constantly looking for every opportunity promote awareness of the EU. In that sense, this is a bit like the equally daft proposal to replace "Made in Britain" labels with "Made in the EU". Of course the existing Red Ensign has the Union Jack quartered-in anyway, so the EU flag would have obscured all or most of the Union Jack!
We managed to flag up the issue (forgive the pun!), and got the proposal voted down in plenary. A small victory for common sense -- and a reminder of the need for constant vigilance!
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