2 June 2008
Elitism Unveiled
Posted by Joy Bischoff under: World Affairs .
This article is a good example of how unelected officials who are not directly accountable to one sovereign nation like to feather their nest at the expense of their people. If we see the North American Union completed, then we will observe the same excesses over here.
EU ‘Gravy Train’ legend becomes cushy reality
By Bruno Waterfield, in Brussels
The legendary “Gravy Train” really exists and will be pulling away from a Brussels platform next month. Euro-MPs are to get a special private high-speed rail connection when making their monthly trip from Belgium to the Strasbourg seat of the European Parliament. The same service will not be available to the public - for any price.
The EU gravy train: private convenience not public service
More proof, if more was ever needed, that the EU is not organised for you or yours.
The euro-chartered high-speed Thalys (a Franco-Belgo-German consortium) service is a planned feature of the forthcoming French EU Presidency next month. Paris is desperate to defend the barmy system that means the EU assembly has two seats, one in Brussels, the other in Strasbourg, two cities that are around 300 miles apart.
French officials hoped that a new train service could mean that Strasbourg could be spun as more environmentally friendly but the wheeze has only reinforced the irrationality and elitism that is at the heart of the EU. . .
Paris will present the new train, which will save just 2.5 per cent on the Parliament’s monthly travel budget of £161,000, as being a mark of an eco-friendly EU – two charter aircraft have cancelled. France needs to re-brand the Strasbourg seat of the European Parliament because it has become the example, par excellence, of the EU’s irrationality.
The seat, intended as a symbol of post-war Franco-German reconciliation, costs hundreds of millions every year to maintain. The lavish, modernist buildings as well as the bizarre “travelling circus” has become a showcase of the euro-elite’s in-your-face contempt for the public – most people (including Euro-MPs) think the Strasbourg seat is ludicrous.
The new train will underline that, reduced “carbon foot print” or not, the Strasbourg Parliament is a true symbol of an EU that is less of a public authority than a private convenience for officials that live in a different world from the people they govern. The French EU Presidency’s decision to turn the “Gravy Train” metaphor for the cynically cushy life of euro-officialdom into a literal high-speed reality shows the profound contempt of Europe’s elites for Europe’s publics.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/foreign/brunowaterfield/june2008/eugravytrain.htm
6 Comments so far...
Matt Says:
2 June 2008 at 9:01 am.
Looks like they want back the good old days of royal snobs.
Benjamin Says:
2 June 2008 at 9:56 am.
The NAU looks unstoppable because they are bypassing the Constitution to do it so brace yourselves for similar things, not to mention the super highway.
Jan W. Says:
2 June 2008 at 11:10 am.
Separation into such distinct classes is dangerous. I don’t even want to think about this kind of thing spreading here.
Hank Says:
2 June 2008 at 7:37 pm.
This kind of think doesn’t surprise me. I see that attitude with the rich folks here in Boston. They are very elite and think they’re better than us common people. They don’t want to touch us.
Nalvy Says:
3 June 2008 at 1:34 pm.
I have always seen groups of people who think they are elite… it is protrayed everywhere in our culture…from movies to songs to cars and clothes… Jan I am sorry to break it to you but we already have distinct classes over here. Its only a matter of time before there is only two classes…the upper and the lower with no middle.
Benjamin Says:
3 June 2008 at 3:26 pm.
That’s right Nalvy. We are primed for this kind of thing here more than we ever have been. I am disgusted at how people are fawning over actors and pop stars and anybody perceived as elite.
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