Leaked plan for "European superstate" revealed

A German proposal to create a "European superstate" has been leaked to Polish news channel, TVP.

The proposal would see national currencies abolished, control of borders taken away from member states including the right to refuse to take in illegal immigrants from other EU member states, a common tax system and a common criminal code.

Looks like we're leaving just in time ...

EU has mobile roaming in its sight again

The EU have got mobile phone operators in their sights again, aiming to abolish all roaming charges across the EU by 2016.

Research has shown that almost half of people travelling abroad don't use the internet on their mobile phones when travelling in the EU and a quarter don't use their phones at all.

Mobile phone roaming is an obvious reminder that the EU isn't one country and the EU don't like any reminders that a United States of Europe doesn't exist (the EU Commission's vice president, Viviane Reding, has called for it again this week).

Mobile phone operators are pumping billions into upgrading infrastructure to take advantage of 4G technology and they need to recoup that cost through their customers. It costs money to provide mobile services to customers from another network and operators need to be able to charge for that service so they don't have to pass that cost on to their own customers.

All the mobile phone operators have add-ons that will allow you to use your phone in the EU and elsewhere at a reduced cost or as part of your inclusive package for a daily or monthly fee. Three allow you to use your inclusive minutes, text and data (subject to conditions) in most of the countries where they own a mobile phone network. There is also an EU cap on roaming call, text and data charges anywhere in the EU.

Consumers have options and protections, forcing mobile phone operators to create the illusion of a United States of Europe with the unilateral abolition of roaming charges is both unnecessary and counter-productive. Allow them (encourage them, even) to make their own bilateral agreements on roaming and protect the interests of their own customers.

EU to abolish mobile phone roaming charges

The wise and benevolent EU has decided that it's unacceptable that mobile phone companies charge extra for roaming between EU countries.  After all, you don't pay roaming charges between states in the USA do you so who should you pay in the United States of Europe?

Mobile phone companies make a lot of money from roaming charges and it's that money that helps them give away £400 phones for free when you take out a contract.  Nobody likes paying extra charges but it's a fair compromise - the small minority that use their phones abroad on a regular basis pay the extra cost of using it rather than the majority of mobile phone users subsidising their usage.

In Europe it's as common for people to go to a neighbouring EU country as it is for English people to go to Wales or Scotland but they are still in the minority.  It's not as common in the UK and Ireland though, thanks in part to the EU's environmental laws that make it prohibitively expensive to travel by air but mostly because we're an island and it's not convenient.

The mobile phone companies won't absorb the extra costs, they will pass them on to all their customers.  We will all pay higher bills to subsidise the mobile phone usage of a minority of customers and in the UK and Ireland we will benefit the least.  The EU is not a country, the countries in it are not states in a country like the USA despite the EU's insistence on referring to them as "states" to try and get people to think about them in the same way.  It is not unreasonable to expect to pay a premium for using your mobile phone in a different country.