God help us!
The European Commission believes it is backed by a âsilent majorityâ in favour of its push for further EU integration and potential future role as the economic government of Europe.
I didnât make that up â they really do believe that the 99% of us who didnât bother to vote in the EU âelectionsâ, those of us who arenât rioting in the streets, the people who havenât taken a machine gun to the lot of them, are actually keeping quiet because we approve of what they are doing and wish them to do more of it.
âThe first and best ally that we have in all of this is the silent majority who too often is drowned out by a very vocal minority of sceptics and critics but which is much more solid than we care to think,â Laitenberger said Tuesday (4 October) at an event organised by the European Policy Centre.
âI am very confident that there are enough people, enough institutions, enough forces, that can be mobilised. You sense that the tide is turning. Many people who at the beginning of the discussion did not raise their voices are more forceful, more decisive and saying more clearly what needs to be done.â
The fact that they are still alive is taken as a ringing endorsementâ¦
You couldnât make it up.
Come on folks â someone come up with an e-mail address for Johannes Laitenberger so we can tell him how bloody wrong he is!
Your starter for ten, Iâm counting on you.
And youâve done it! Well done James Rigby!
E-mail for Johannes Laitenberger is johannes.laitenberger@ec.europa.eu
And a phone number +32 (0)2 296 5745
Please pass this on via twitter, face book , whatever â and get people e-mailing him â let him know what the silent majority really thinks of âfurther integrationââ¦â¦â¦
October 19, 2011 at 18:33
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I have had a reply from this gentleman and two further replies from a
minion.
She has asked for my phone number to discuss matters further!
I will post the outcome if anyone is interested.
October
16, 2011 at 20:49
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I had a reply from this chap:
Dear Mr Nowhere,
Thank you for your e-mail concerning my comments on the
âsilent majorityâ during the EPC Sixty Minutes Briefing on 4 October, of which
I have taken due notice.
Kind regards,
Johannes Laitenberger
Itâs not exactly personalised, but the fact it has been replied to says
that someone, somewhere, had their cosy workday interrupted by my thoughts. I
have no faith that anything we do will make a scrap of difference, but itâs
better than doing nothing and then saying that no-one listens.
October 13, 2011 at 10:10
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I sent a frank but civil expression of my views to Mr Laitenberger, and
today have received an impersonal reply.
I await the knock at the door from
the men in black..
October 7, 2011 at 21:59
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âMany people who at the beginning of the discussion did not raise their
voices are more forceful, more decisive and saying more clearly what needs to
be doneâ
Very true â but what they are saying is the exact opposite of what this
undemocratic idiot is saying.
October 7, 2011 at 14:31
October 7, 2011 at 12:54
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Some observations on the EU Commission.
It is an unelected body that over rules the democratic elected parliament,
it is therefore a dictatorship, or to be more precise a political junta.
Like all dictatorships they want to expand their influence and crush
democracy in any way they can while pretending to be democratic.
IF, and it is a big if, they were democratic they would need to be elected
by the people they are trying to control â something they would never allow
because they would all be out of jobs.
I doubt that a few people sending e-mails will make any difference,
although I too have sent one, after all world condemnation had no effect on
the junta in Burma.
October 7,
2011 at 11:31
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Short email sent
October 7, 2011 at 11:25
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Also sent polite but firm email ,sadly like others i think the mass delete
button is working overtime.
October 7, 2011 at 10:32
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âNot silentâ hereâs my effortâ¦
You most emphatically do NOT have my backing for further integration or any
role an economic government of my country Mr Laitenberger â or even for your
current level of influence. What vast hubris to assume that the vast majority
from whom you have not heard support you!. The European Parliament is at least
elected but the European Commission is a self serving elite unaccountable to
the European populace it governs, but does not in any sense represent. It
listens only to the voices of its supporters, ignores its critics and does not
even address the vast hinterland in between. Within the Parliament the lie is
given to your statement by the growing representation of parties opposed to
not only further integration but even to the current level of EU influence on
national sovereignty. Finally only in the mind of a deluded ideologue could
any organisation which cannot get its own accounts agreed as fair and accurate
possibly have any credibility as an economic government.
If you are so sure of your support then:
a) Voluntarily make all Commission positions elected and
b) Require referenda in all member states on any further integration
measures
- October 14, 2011 at 15:50
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Give the man credit he did reply â weasel word sidestepping the actual
issue but more than I have ever got out of our own domestic parasites
Dear XXXXXXXXXX
Thank you for your e-mail concerning my comments on the âsilent majorityâ
during the EPC Sixty Minutes Briefing on 4 October, of which I have taken
due notice.
Concerning your suggestion on referenda on further integration measures,
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the EU institutions
have no competence whatsoever to organize or call for a referendum on this
or any other issue. Decisions on referenda are exclusively and fully under
the sovereign power of each Member State of the EU.
Kind regards,
Johannes Laitenberger
Head of Cabinet/Chef de
cabinet/Kabinettchef/Chefe de
gabinete
President/Président/Präsident/Presidente José Manuel Barroso
European Commission/Commission européenne/Europäische Kommission/Comissão
Europeia
B 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel (Belgique/België)
Tel. +32-2-296.57.45
E-Mail Johannes.Laitenberger@ec.europa.eu
October 15, 2011 at 10:51
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Similar response received.
Doesnât address the issue of why an
unelected EC spokesman is presenting his personal view publicly. I would
expect officials to deal with matters of fact and agreed policy
only.
Even in the unlikely case of evidence to support his opinions, I
would have thought these were matters for the elected
representatives.
But I suppose the MEPs etc donât want to frighten the
horses, (sorry, electorate, so more like nodding donkeys) and we arenât
dealing with a democracy.
October 7, 2011 at 07:34
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I think the man mistakes the silence of the majority for support when in
reality, itâs apathy.
Can apathy be âsolidâ?
October 7, 2011 at 02:41
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Relatively polite but firm email sent.
- October
7, 2011 at 00:12
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Polite email sent.
Joe Public, spot on as usual.
October 15, 2011 at 07:37
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I got a very polite e-mail back from the chap too. Ho hum â guess all the
worldâs a stage etc etc
October 6, 2011 at 23:22
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Just sent the fellow an email telling him how wrongheaded the whole thing
is.
Might add some weight, but nothing short of market collapse will make
any difference I fear.
Thank the Lord itâs coming.
October 6, 2011 at 22:38
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I just sent an E-Mail, to the address posted above, polite and not a rant
because being otherwise just gives believers of the âgreat dreamâ the excuse
to dismiss any serious message that lies within, I doubt if it will make any
difference, however France being fundamentally and perhaps fatally damaged by
the unfolding events in the de-railment of the Euro and the E.U. probably
will.
October 6, 2011 at 21:38
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This is what I said
This piece of the majority is silent because I am speechless with seething
rage at the EU and its works but mostly the lying, hypocritical low life that
foisted the Great Deception on us in the first place and continue to ignore
us.
October 6, 2011 at 20:57
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Iâm not going to repeat my message to the gentleman verbatim, but the
phrases âanti-democraticâ and âget a proper jobâ were in there somewhere.
October 6, 2011 at 20:26
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Done it.
Canât help thinking that itâs like pissing your pants whilst wearing a dark
suit.
A warm feeling of relief, and no-one notices.
- October 6, 2011 at 20:02
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When out walking in a group, we find a bit of warm debate makes us forget
the steep bits.
Favourite topic is europe. Latest anecdote, and before we
know where we are, weâre at the top of the hill.
Consistently, the only
support for the eu comes usually from one retired schoolteacher. Usual
argument being itâs kept us war free in europe for x years. As if.
Apart
from that I donât know any eu supporters personally. There seems to be split
between the cynically resigned and the rabid antis. Nobody dislikes europe,
itâs people, or member states, itâs the eu.
Now to write to little
Hannes.
October 6, 2011 at 19:32
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Problem. I just took a quick unrepresentative vote from some passing
tradespersons on an immediate emotional response to:
âThe European Union â In or Out?â
The scratched their heads for a moment and looked uncomfortable. âDunnoâ
they said. âDonât think much about it.â âI went to Turkey for my holidaysâ .
As I said, itâs unrepresentative, but they were not quite evenly poised. It
would be far easier to nudge them towards âyesâ than ânoâ. I wouldnât go so
far as to describe them as solid. Itâs more like a huge blancmange which would
be easy to scoop in to a dish but in so far as it has any resistant structure,
would be very easy to break down.
Itâs difficult for bloggers to accept but we might not be representative of
the electorate as a whole right this moment. The question is more âdo
Eurosceptic bloggers represent the way the electorate is going?â If I were DC,
Iâd be cutting and running for that referendum now. If he wins one now â and I
think he can because he won the av vote â it will settle the issue for another
generation. This is not my preferred reality, but it may be the way the world
is.
October 6, 2011 at 19:16
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In know it wonât make any differenceâ¦but Iâve just emailed the âmuppetâ
Johannes. At least I feel a bit better for itâ¦
Now, if only we could persuade Cameron to listenâ¦and then do
somethingâ¦!!!
October 6, 2011 at 18:46
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I would challenge him, that if heâs that certain, to call an EU-wide
referendum on it, and see how close to 99% he gets in favour of the EU. He
might even get a majority, but I suspect there will be a few countries that
vote a majority for no.
October 6, 2011 at 21:29
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No problem, they can keep voting until they vote correctly.
October 8, 2011 at 14:59
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Make it a compulsory vote, that should deliver a knockout blow.
Soz, but Im not a Eurosceptic, but I do believe in democracy.
October 6, 2011 at 18:38
October 6, 2011 at 18:23
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His email address as recorded here http://www.festland-verlag.de/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF-aktualisierungen/neue-eu-kommission-2010.pdf
is johannes.laitenberger@ec.europa.eu
His telephone number, as reported here http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/president/about/team/index_en.htm
is +32 (0)2 296 5745
Is there a prize?
October 6, 2011 at 18:40
October 6,
2011 at 18:14
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I got a new topic for a blog post.
October 6, 2011 at 18:24
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Greetings Donatus! Top man, let battle commence!
- October 6, 2011 at 21:43
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Frankly, I donât think it will change anything but I just have to say
whatâs on my mind. Itâs easier to live with yourself when you know you
tried.
I finished my blog post about this guyâs Yada yada yada, now Iâll write
a letter. Maybe Iâll pretend to be some coquettish long-legged blonde.
Does anybody know his wifeâs e-mail address?
{ 32 comments }