Sarkozy, you've summed it all up!

I type this in the hope that in doing so my blood pressure will lower itself and my heart rate will return to normal. I've just spent I don't know how long rumaging though the various EU/EC/EEC treaties looking up various phrases here and there... yes, I know, very exciting.

I am trying to calm myself down because just thinking about how moronic the Treaty of Lisbon is makes me what to eat my keyboard.

The French President, Nicholas Sarkozy, proposed to remove from the Treaty of Lisbon the aim of "an internal market where competition is free and undistorted" . In previous treaties the wording was that the Community would seek "a system ensuring that competition and the internal market is not distorted". But the point was the same. Nick', however wanted this removed, and this alone perfectly explains why uniting Europe is like a communist and an avid economic liberal to agree on how to run a country, because in essence that is exactly what it is.

Apparently Nick wanted to alay the fears of his country men that the EU was becoming too "Anglo-Saxon". What, pray tell, does this mean? Too Anglo-Saxon, does that mean the EU is working more efficiently?

There is a world of difference between how the UK works and how the EU works.

In the UK competition is good, it means honest fair and hard working people do better than those who are lazy and/or incompetent. While the concept isn't perfect, it is generally the model we follow. In France competition is bad, which is why they are so quick to be protectionist. Despite this protectionism their real GDP growth is consistently lower than the UK. Even in the EU what they are concerned with is protectionism, think of Champagne, it is a noun really, it means a sparkling wine. But in the EU thats to Protected Designation of Origin Champagne means a wine from the Champagne region, everything else is 'sparkling white'.

And though I hate to come across as xenophobic (I'm sorry but if people are going to be pro-Europe then I have to put them straight) I can go on:

Spain had an unemployment level of 10% even before the credit crunch started;

Iceland is now completely bankrupt (unfortunately);

Greece, Portugal, Spain (and now apparently) Italy are also going down the pan and want a bail out from the EU

The only countries that actually contribute to the EU are Germany and the UK, the UK is obviously Anglo-Saxon... and where did the Angles and the Saxons come from? Oh yes, Germany... no wonder the EU is 'becoming more Anglo-Saxon' that is the style that actually works.

Out of all of Europe the UK has the longest working hours, coming behind the US on the global stage of course (another 'Anglo-Saxon' style country?).

Now, which way is the better way of life? That is another question. If I lived in Italy, if I had a villa, a pool, a small vineyard and panoramic views down the sweeping mountain side, I probably wouldn't care so much for economics myself, I probably wouldn't be too fussed about the stock exchange either and that is fine. I understand that completely. What I don't understand is why people think that people who work in completely different ways are going to be able to work together in a Union based on a common economic policy.