It’s déjà vu all over again. Post #163 of this blog (d.d. Aug 5, 2007) dealt with a secretive plan by the European Union to carve up the United Kingdom into several transnational zones, linking parts of the UK with parts of the Continent and wiping out the British state in the process.
The plan was ‘revealed’ by the europhobic Daily Mail. This time around, it’s the equally populist newspaper The Sun that has ‘discovered’ the same plan, albeit with a slightly different map. It must be that the europhobic segment of the Great British Public love a good EU horror story and don’t mind being scared twice by the same one. I don’t know if the deliberatlely misleading article, oozing paranoia and xenophobia, should make me laugh or cry:
“Secret plans reveal the South of England will be renamed TRANSMANCHE – and governed in part by bureaucrats in France.”
“Two more ‘Transnational’ zones are also being set up to ‘promote the territorial agenda’ of t he EU. The ATLANTIC REGION – stretching thousands of miles from the northern tip of Scotland to southern Spain – will take in western England and Wales, along with parts of Portugal and France.”
“And the NORTH SEA REGION will cover chunks of eastern England and eastern Scotland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Holland, and the Flemish part of Belgium. The Atlantic will have its headquarters in Portugal, the North Sea in Denmark.”
“Ironically, news of the carve-up comes on St George’s Day – England’s national day. Critics, including the Tories, claim the new regions ‘ignore thousands of years of history and wipe England off the map’.”
The Sun only obliquely refers to the responsibilities with which these consultative bodies will be tasked: tourism, town-twinning, the environment, shipping and transport – which hardly amounts to “reshaping national boundaries”.
Thanks to James Cribbs for pointing me to the article and the map in The Sun.
you have to love right wing media.
cue a million men in white vans screaming at talk radio and choking on their full english breakfasts.
Comment by Garfunkal — April 24, 2008 @ 11:05 am
The Sun forgot that Norway isn’t part of the EU!
Comment by Stefan — April 24, 2008 @ 11:33 am
Stefan nailed it. Hoax.
Comment by Paul D. — April 24, 2008 @ 11:36 am
It would be funny if it weren’t destroying our chances of playing a full part in the EU.
Comment by AJ — April 24, 2008 @ 11:43 am
This looks perfect to me, except 2 details : Norway and Switzerland aren’t members of the EU.
Comment by Dr. Goulu — April 24, 2008 @ 11:48 am
@ Dr. Goulu
Yeah, according to this map Switzerland is a member of Italy :)
Comment by ArCgon — April 24, 2008 @ 11:52 am
I can only assume that that whole Buckinghamshire + Oxfordshire area is going to become an anarchic wasteland, populated by zombies, terrorists and people who used to live in Birmingham and decided that it was an improvement.
Comment by Ian — April 24, 2008 @ 12:18 pm
Well, well. The Daily Mail and The Sun cannot really be called newspapers, but rightist fantasy comics. A lot scarier than their little map is the fact that thousands of people actually read these publications on a daily basis. This is what we are chopping down the Amazon forest for – the whims and the dark, mental onanism of a sad bunch of xenophobes, stuck in their dreams of past empires.
Comment by Antoine Cassar — April 24, 2008 @ 12:49 pm
Ian: I’m sorry, but “become”?
Comment by Al S — April 24, 2008 @ 12:49 pm
Chopping down the Amazon rainforest to print newspapers? Pffft. It seems that being woefully mis-informed is not confined to readers of the Sun and Mail.
As any fool know, only the most expensive broadsheets are printed on fine, mahogany-based newsprint.
Comment by commenter — April 24, 2008 @ 1:27 pm
OMFG! This is insane!
This is the Interreg programme….or Interreg IIIB/Interreg IVB. Its an EU programme and part of the Strucutral and Cohesion fund.
The idea of Interreg is to provide money (a few percent of the overall funding of the strucutral funds) to allow local governments to cooperate across borders on a number of issues of common concern…for example…combating pollution from shipping, addressing water management issues within cities and so on. The budgets are set by national governments, the areas chosen for cooperation are decided by national governments, and the ultimate resposability for the programme is with national governments.
The reason I know all this is that I have WORKED within one of these programme areas, the North Sea Region. To say that it is an evil scheme by the EU is not just obsurd….its absolutly, side splitting, halarious, its so far from the truth (or reality for that matter) the sun is not on another planet, they are in a whole other universe!
Just proves how TERRIABLE the “journalism” at the Sun and Daily Mail are!
Comment by EvilEuropean — April 24, 2008 @ 1:28 pm
This really about a secret Portugese plot to take over Ireland. The whole French taking over the south of England is a smoke screen!
Comment by floormaster squeeze — April 24, 2008 @ 1:41 pm
“and don’t mind being scared twice by the same one”
except it’s not “scared twice by the same crap beatup”, but rather “have their beliefs reinforced, because it’s in the news again so it must be true”…
Comment by russm — April 24, 2008 @ 2:36 pm
As truthful as a tabloid can be…
I have a question for EvilEuropean (who seems to know the subject) ; I found the “North Sea Region” rather large : I agree that Artic Ocean should be included, but for the Baltic Sea and Sweden ?
Comment by Jacques — April 24, 2008 @ 3:12 pm
Dr Goulu, non-EU members can participate if they want within the programme. They make their own contribution. Norway payed money into a common fund for the Interreg IIIB North Sea Region programme for example.
Comment by EvilEuropean — April 24, 2008 @ 5:11 pm
Jacques,
the regions were decided by the member states and actually developed out of a document developed from the 1990. They have changed the areas a number of times.
There is also a Northern Periphery programme which includes Iceland, Northern Scotland and Scandinavia.
Just do a google for Interreg IIIB and EU and go to the InfoRegio. I would post a link but then not work. Actually, click on my name and it will take you to the 11 transantional areas for the Interreg IIIB programmes (though discontinued, it is the basis for the follow up programme).
Comment by EvilEuropean — April 24, 2008 @ 5:14 pm
[...] Read it. [...]
Pingback by DYSPEPSIA GENERATION » Blog Archive » E. U. Plots to Destroy Britain - Again — April 24, 2008 @ 5:33 pm
I have to mention that I was in every city in the UK over half of 2007 (for work), and just about every hotel I stayed in was employing at least 3 eastern Europeans. There are basically no travel or work restrictions against EU workers, so a large number of people are moving to the UK and taking jobs at a lower rate of pay than an English/Welsh/Scottish/Irish person would probably receive.
I personally don’t care (nor think of it as a big deal), but it’s easy to see how some British citizens might react to these changes.
Comment by Bob — April 24, 2008 @ 6:37 pm
The colored areas do represent cultural regions well though…the green Atlantic region in Britain virtually covers an area where Celtic languages would have been ubiquitously spoken hundreds of years ago, while the orange areas correspond well with Danelaw and the initial areas of Anglo-Saxon settlement, except for the dark red area covering Kent. Perhaps the dark red area could be seen as the core “Norman” zone. :)
Comment by Drew Taylor — April 24, 2008 @ 7:33 pm
[...] As might have been expected (but I only found out after I had written this), this news was also picked up by others, such as the unequalled blog Strange maps. [...]
Pingback by British Europhobia? « Maps & more — April 24, 2008 @ 7:46 pm
If it ain’t a right-wing scare tactic it is a left-wing scare tactic, except without soap.
Comment by Jay Santos — April 24, 2008 @ 8:50 pm
“along with parts of Portugal”
i wonder what part of Portugal isnt in the map hummm……..
Comment by tiago — April 24, 2008 @ 11:52 pm
“i wonder what part of Portugal isnt in the map”
Azores and Madeira.
Comment by southerndave — April 25, 2008 @ 12:13 am
So it is a right-wing scare tactic because the EU only wants to do this in a limited way? That hardly qualifies it for urban legend status then, does it?
Talk about having beliefs reinforced…
Comment by Assistant Village Idiot — April 25, 2008 @ 1:14 am
>> Bob (18)
I think Brits doing the same job would get the same pay – it’s just that many Brits won’t take the jobs or wouldn’t be able to keep it. As many visitors to this country notice the level of service you get in stores, restaurants, cafés etc is pretty atrocious (not to mention airports), but when service is good 9/10 times the people working there are eastern European. These people just seem to be more diligent and have a better work ethic – probably because they are the kind of people who take the trouble of moving to anther country for a job!
[Note: I'm not British or Eastern European but I live in England]
Comment by David — April 25, 2008 @ 7:47 am
It should definitely make you want to Cry!
Comment by Sylvester — April 25, 2008 @ 10:59 am
Stupid Daily Sun/Moron/Wail. If they looked into it a bit further, they’d realize the important INTERREGIO thing is the one called North West Europe, by which the Queen gets back Ireland, Normandy, and a few surrounding areas. ;-)
Comment by James Dowden — April 25, 2008 @ 4:06 pm
I do believe I enjoyed commenting about this when the Daily Hell brought it out. The trouble is, these idiots have political sway.
Comment by lordhutton — April 25, 2008 @ 8:28 pm
I’ve seen this one before. Explains British paranoia, doesn’t it. :-)
Raf
http://uzar.wordpress.com/
Comment by Raf Uzar — April 26, 2008 @ 8:42 am
Actually if you look to the maps of the UEFA Cup and the Eurovision you can see that Napoleon and Hitler have already won over Britain!!
Crikey, something must be done- lead the way Daily Mail!!
Comment by Nuno — April 26, 2008 @ 9:39 am
Dude — can you make the font on your website bigger? This is really hard for some people to read.
Thanks
Comment by A 47 yo dude — April 26, 2008 @ 8:00 pm
This map seems like a dream come true for Celtic internationalists – all the Celtic nations finally united! (Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany – even Galicia in Northern Spain, which is sometimes considered a ”Celtic nation” as well.)
Well, they lose a bit of Scotland, grab a bit of England, and have to live together with some Atlantic French, Basques, Portuguese and Southern Spaniards – but isn’t that worth it?
Yes, it’s indeed quite ironic that “news of the carve-up comes on St George’s Day – England’s national day”… What if England lost its UK dominance, and became just another nation on the British Isles, equal to, but not above, its Celtic neighbours? Would that be a bad thing? I think not.
Comment by Bjørn A. Bojesen — April 28, 2008 @ 8:27 am
Another wonderful piece of Daily Racist spin. Did the accompanying article describe how illegal immigrants were going to take advantage of the plans to cover-up the death of Princess Diana and kidnapping of Little Maddie?
Comment by kingrollo — April 28, 2008 @ 11:56 am
To David-
Almost all of the eastern European people I met during my stay were very very polite and helpful, it’s true! I’ve even added a few of them to my Facebook.
And as an aside, I do have to mention that compared to Southern California, all of the people I met in the UK were almost always wonderful and polite, which made my prolonged stay a much nicer experience. Anyway, cheers :)
Comment by Bob — April 28, 2008 @ 12:33 pm
I’ve always welcomed a takeover by the EU, and if there’s to be a collaborationist government, sign me up. I’ve not been learning Luxembourgish for nothing.
The map looks like a great idea if only to get Britain’s standard of living up to that enjoyed by our fellow Europeans living on the mainland (healthcare service, fair wages, and work hours and affordable houseprices).
I will miss Wetherspoons though.
Comment by Phil — April 28, 2008 @ 8:23 pm
According to the map, Switzerland and parts of Western Austria look like they have been annexed by Italy! (Perhaps Italy will force the Swiss and the rest of the Tiroleans – not just the south Tiroleans, to become Italians. They could use Sylvester Stallone and Tony Soprano as their spokesmen and call the annexed area “Greater Alto Adige”)! Bravissimo! Mussolini would be proud!
The map is silly disinformation for the lower classes. Better question: When will Britain abandon the Pound and adopt the Euro?
Comment by Ron — April 29, 2008 @ 5:34 pm
The map is totally wrong. Britain and Ireland need to share regions with Poland!
http://polskieradio.pl/thenews/
Comment by Ron — April 30, 2008 @ 4:20 pm
The Sun is a comic strip and the Daily Mail not much better. That does not make the map any less true
Ultimately the EU intends to remove national govs and replace them with these ‘regions’. As stated the regions will run tourism, town-twinning, the environment, shipping and transport. The EU Gov will run everything else.
This may or may not be a good idea.
The truly scary thing is that I will never, ever be able to vote against it.
Comment by Matt — May 1, 2008 @ 8:50 pm
>>The Sun is a comic strip and the Daily Mail not much better. That does not make the map any less true
Ultimately the EU intends to remove national govs and replace them with these ‘regions’. As stated the regions will run tourism, town-twinning, the environment, shipping and transport. The EU Gov will run everything else.
This may or may not be a good idea.
The truly scary thing is that I will never, ever be able to vote against it.<<
Comment by Matt — May 1, 2008 @
Just curious…..if national borders are supposed to be erased, then you would expect that the people living in the border regions would be fluent in the language of the neighboring country. This would facilitate an easier flow people traveling over national borders. For example, you would expect the people of Alsace and Lorraine (Eastern France) to be fluent in French and in German…. How does speaking “only” the mother language (and maybe knowing a very little bit of “tourist English”) help integrate the neighboring nationalities of Europe?
Comment by Ron — May 2, 2008 @ 5:30 pm
> The truly scary thing is that I
> will never, ever be able to vote
> against it.
What nonsense. You vote both in national elections and your elected government then has a voice in Brussels. Even more directly, there are regular elections of the EU Parliament.
You seem ill informed.
Comment by Hasen Katz — May 3, 2008 @ 11:24 pm
What really scares me, as a Finn, that the mighty European Union seems to have decided to erase the southern part of the border between Finland and Russia, presumably allowing the 170 million Russians unimpeded access to Finland. Oh when will this madness end? Will no one stop those wicked, wicked Brussels bureaucrats and their undemocratic meddling?
Comment by Oskari Olematon — May 4, 2008 @ 1:58 pm
I mean, sure, tourism maybe even makes sense. Town-twinning is too unimportant to care about. The environment _should_ be managed thinking about things like watersheds and the various Seas.
But shipping and transport? Those are not unimportant. They should be sea-based, which the maps tend to re-inforce, but, hey…
Anyway, I’m not a person who believes the EU will survive any major stress.
What are they going to look to, a Constitution the size of a small dictionary?
Comment by Josh SN — May 4, 2008 @ 4:28 pm
hmm.. interesting site you got here.
Comment by jenny — May 8, 2008 @ 9:23 am
British are aways contemplate one’s navel !!! European interregional programs abolish frontiers and suppress every country : Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy or Greece. I assme that Germans don’t aggree the suppression of unified Germany !!!
http://www.interreg3c.net/sixcms/list.php?page=home_en
http://www.espaces-transfrontaliers.org/en/
Comment by Pierre — May 29, 2008 @ 3:43 pm
“You vote both in national elections and your elected government then has a voice in Brussels.”
But are there any mainstream political parties in Europe that aren’t 100% pro-EU? There’s the rub.
Comment by Bill — June 21, 2008 @ 9:42 pm
Britain is doing a great job of it without EU help.
Google for this term (found on http://maps.google.co.uk):
Recording the creation of the worlds first Fascist Democracy.
Comment by bourgeoisie pig — September 22, 2008 @ 3:07 pm
Whoops, for some reason, the above link would not display the article.
The map can be found here:
worldsfirstfascistdemocracy.blogspot.com
“Jolly good show, Brits, simply smashing!”
Comment by bourgeoisie pig — September 22, 2008 @ 3:11 pm
@Bill (45):
Then create one! It’s an effin democracy! What you’re saying is that the majority doesn’t agree with you. Well.. get over it, that’s democracy for ya.
Comment by Captain Eurotrash — September 25, 2008 @ 12:14 pm
It’s clear that this is just a British plot to connect Gibraltar to the motherland. Of course, the only reason they don’t show North Africa is on the map is that it will also be part of the Atlantic region in order to connect Akrotiri and Dhekelia with Gibraltar. The Empire comes back!
Comment by JSZ — September 28, 2008 @ 3:25 pm
Then create one! It’s an effin democracy! What you’re saying is that the majority doesn’t agree with you. Well.. get over it, that’s democracy for ya
Comment by توب — December 16, 2008 @ 2:01 pm
thank you
Comment by Tony — May 4, 2009 @ 3:35 am
thanks for this map
good
luck
…
Comment by Solomon — May 11, 2009 @ 8:53 am
Vielen Dank
Comment by moon — July 3, 2009 @ 5:07 am
Muchas gracias
Comment by sun — July 4, 2009 @ 7:33 am