The European Union - some recent masterpieces

Lest any reader imagine that my failure to comment on the decisions and doings of Brussels is because I am entirely happy with them, let me mention a few things which have emerged.

1) It has now emerged that EU law that citizens from within the union who are eligible for Government payments on leaving their country are still entitled to receive them from their home country in their destination country within the EU.
So in the past year 50,000 expatriates who have emigrated to warmer climes have received £9 million in winter fuel allowance, even though they live in a much warmer country!

2)The EU has recently classified disability scooters with snowmobiles, jet skis and racing cars, with the result that there has been added a £300 import tax! Can you believe it?

3) It seems that 16 EU member countries have now signed up to a declaration on the importance of EU's flag, anthem and motto, which will be attached to the EU (non-)Consitution.
Bottler Brown pretends that the recent treaty itsn't a constitution because it does not mention the flag and anthem. But they are being attached. Is there a difference?

4) It seems that the EU has budgeted to spend the sum of £7.2 billion in the UK over the years 2007-2013 from the Structural and Cohesion Fund. Open Europe has done a full study and among other things has concluded two things. Firstly that poorest areas receive disproportionately less - the poorest 20% of areas have received about 10% of the spending.
Secondly that the schemes are hugely bureaucratic, and with very large administrative costs. They cost the UK about £670 million a year from our grant. That seems to be about half of what we are allocated. (Perhaps they could make a start by avoiding all those driver-distracting blue signs which try to persuade us that they are kind in letting us have back a tiny proportion of our money.)

By the way, over the same period our contributions to the EU will be about £71 billion. So they give back about 10%, or after the administration about 5%.