EU finances - Apocalyse Now?

[meditrina]

This article from The Telegraph makes pretty grim reading.

Any MNetters in Greece who can say if it is as bad as portrayed?

It looks as if Europe is in for a rough ride - especially if European banks (including ECB) are only staying afloat by smoke and mirrors. And why on earth did Darling sign UK up to the bail outs?

Last act of vengeance from the outgoing govt?

The UK needs to insist that we will not bail Greece out, and to quietly begin (if they haven't explored this already) to look at an escape route. The EU is unfit for purpose (if it ever had one) and has no net beenfit for the UK that I can see.

and I read somewhere a few years back that accounts were not signed off for years. And we think the EU is a developed group of nations eh? Why weren't the auditors called in.

Whilst I agree that the EU is very expensive, ridiculously bureaucratic, unwieldy and probably fairly undemocratic, I don't think it will benefit anyone at all if it fails.

Darling (and Gordon Brown, lets not forget) signed us up because they didn't have the balls to stand up to the EU and it was a handy way to screw the incoming govt.

I think New Labour in the dying days of power enacted a policy of scorched earth. They promised everything to everyone then left a note saying the money had run out.

Then of course, the electorate being stupid now blame the Tory govt for every cut whilst Labour still bleat about how they wouldn't cut this or that despite having no money.

What Darling did was down right negligent. It is convention that outgoing govt's do not take big decisions on their own without consulting the incoming govt.

Just think how many billions that the Tories will save us compared with Labour who would have just thrown more money at Greece so we appear to be good European neighbours.

Will they be able to avoid having to cough up, though? Or is what Darling so reprehensibly did going to commit us?