A badge of honour

Being in Romania makes me reflect on what the EU actually does.

Apart from giving farmers like me subvention payments, most of the time it's objects are Statist and regulatory.

For instance, last year when we did the contracts for renting the land to various people, we simply put all the bits one individual was renting onto one piece of paper and had it notarised. The Romanians ( who make French and Italian bureaucrats look like amateurs) have simply layered EU regulations on top of their own. Somewhere along the line, this has translated into having to do one contract for each piece of land.

So yesterday we took the notary with us to Nemsa and Alma Vii, clutching ream upon ream of paper, and as each renter came up he signed, I signed and stamped, in three copies.

128 times.

Times 3.

I was completely punchdrunk by the time we finished.

The only ray of light on the horizon is that this is the first year this has had to be done, and everyone is up in arms about it, so there is likely to be a modification for next year.

Last year we got goats and sheep as rent, but as we now own most of the goats in the area ( and having the sheep simply feeds the teethy wolves and the locals), we will receive a share in the produce in the autumn, or in some cases days work. This last is quite useful as it saves having to pick and choose who we want to work for us on the day.

Yesterday was the Mayor's birthday, so of course we had to go and wish him many happy returns. He is now 58, and although he drinks like a fish and eats all the wrong things, he looks remarkably young. I put it down to his not smoking at all and being effectively stress free. Everyone does everything for him.

Of course, it could just be the genes.

His father died last month.

He lost a leg in the war and refused ever to wear a prosthetic, which stood outside his front door for all to see. He hirpled about on his crutches until the day before he passed away.

He was married twice( his first wife died during WW2) and Eugen is the progeny of his second marriage post-war.

He was 92 when he died, a man who worked the fields well into his 70s, and a previous mayor in the Communist era.

So I expect at least another 25 or 30 years out of Eugen.

Trying to make money.

Here I am back in Romania for a few days.
I flew from Prestwick to Budapest then caught the 7 o'clock train to Sighisoara. It's supposed to get in at 5am, but for some reason none of the trains have been anything less than an hour late in either direction for months.
It was a beautiful morning and Alin's smiling face, even at that time in the morning, was truly welcoming.
Although there were some odd bits of business to be done, the real reason for this particular short visit is that I personally have to sign for the EU subvention payments for our land here.
And before 15th June, which only emerged after my last visit.
We had been told that Alin could sign as my proxy/power of attorney, but in the event, no one was very sure, and rather than lose out on a handy sum I decided I'd better get back and make with the signature. And the stamp. And the endless other signatures and stamps.
Still, by about noon we were through and spent some time going over the most recent land purchases.
What is becoming clear is that we need more and more maps of different areas and different types. All these are held in the Primaria ( Town Hall) and Vassily is in charge of them. So when we presented ourselves there yesterday afternoon, Vassily looked at his watch.
" The Mayor says I have to stop work in 20 minutes"
" That's OK then."
"Not at all. You will have to come back tomorrow."
I didn't quite follow this, but Vassily dropped a huge wink to Alin and ushered us out of his office.
Needless to say the Mayor and his wife had laid on lunch for us, and, sure enough, twenty minutes later Vassily turned up.
You will know that the variety and quality of the wine I have to drink here is sometimes a bit of a trial, but yesterday the Mayor produced some white wine that was entirely a pleasure to drink.
So much so that by 6pm the only sober person was Alin - I know I'm a terrible trial to him on these occasions.
I'm sure I snored all the way back in the car, and certainly until about 3am - when I was suddenly wide awake. I hadn't checked my emails!
I didn't reply to any, only made a note of what I needed to do.
After all, it would never do to send someone complete gibberish.....

Vote at least

I've just taken this test on the EU. Very worryingly, UKIP appears to be my closest match. Even more worryingly, this other test seems to suggest that I am closest allied to UKIP immediately followed by the BNP.
I was talking to Mr.Fact the other evening, and he described how the BNP is campaigning/working in his home area of Stoke.
Very little is said about policy. It's all " Here, let me help you carry that." " Let me help you up the stairs". " How are you today?". If the Tories used to be the Nasty Party, the BNP is going out of it's way to be the Nice Party.
And of course it works. When the bag has been carried and the little old lady says thank you, the response is " No problem missus. We look after our own." Perhaps the most worrying thing of all is that this is precisely how Hitler rose to power, by playing on people's fears about non-Germans, Communists and Jews taking jobs and Lebensraum from good German Volk.
Despite all the hype, I doubt the BNP will get more than 5 or 6% of the EU vote in the UK, but UKIP looks to be a serious problem both for Labour ( who they will push into third place) and the Tories, whose natural conservatism with a small "c" encompasses keeping Johnny Foreigner in his place.
Here in Scotland there will be massive support for the SNP - Salmond's careful playing of the fish will continue. His political wiles will only be kept in their place by what I hope will be the Scot's natural antipathy to change - and their acknowledgment that, at the moemnt, it suits them to be in the UK. If the Barnett Formula is changed, however, I would say all bets are off.
I'm away on June 4th, so I have given a proxy vote to Mrs. Lear.
I have no idea how she will vote, or how she will vote for me.
But she has a record of always voting for the party that gets into power....

Eat in your carry out

It would appear that France has won a victory over the EU by getting restaurant meals' VAT reduced from 19.6% to just 5.5% That's a huge drop which would really make a difference to restaurants here.
Presumbaly, as the precedent has been set, it should be a doddle to get the same concession here.
Want to bet on it?

Mandelson's little difficulty.

John Redwood has a particularly good article today on the present strikes. In essence, he says this government has fudged all EU directives, telling us that either it won't have an effect or making a stand and then winning an immaterial concession. This is then hailed as a victory.
As he says :
"When people fear a law or think it is stopping them working they want their elected politicians to take that seriously and to be able to amend it. When the law comes from Brussels, the government is no position to do that. The government has honestly to tell the strikers that there is no point in them striking, because even if the government wanted to change the law in the way they would like, it cannot do so without the agreement of most other EU countries, which looks extremely unlikely on this issue."
Mandelson has been all over the TV and radio saying that the Company statement says it's all OK, but what has actually happened is that the UK contractors that tendered had workers wanting, for example, £20 per hour. The Italians will do it for eg £15. Its no use trotting out the line that there is a minimum wage and it has to be adhered to, as we are well north of that figure.
What is happening is that the Government's spin and general line about" it's fine, trust us" has finally been rumbled.
Never mind Labour's inability to do the housekeeping, they always end up with a winter of discontent. This is because , despite the rhetoric about " difficult decisions" they never take any, twisting in the wind to curry favour.
As my children will testify, I frequently say, it's no use being nice to people. The point is to tell them the truth and shame the devil. Alternatively, if you are nice to them, do it in expectation of no thanks or reciprocation.

No one may like it, but at least they know where they stand.