Another day, another reason to be pleased that Britain doesn’t contribute toward EU funds anymore. Authorities are peeling back the layers of a potentially huge fraud web entangling €2.5 billion in EU post-pandemic funds allocated to only 10 companies in Greece, according to Politico. Last month, the Greek competition commission raided the three Greek telecom titans – Cosmote, Vodafone, and Nova – alongside five IT firms and two consultancies. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has also launched an investigation. This isn’t the first scandal to have hit the EU’s pandemic recovery fund either…

Recently there’s been a flurry of arrests across Italy, Austria, Romania, and Slovakia after a plot allegedly siphoning €600 million from the fund in Italy alone was revealed. This latest probe shines a torch on these dodgy backroom dealings, with companies accused of cosy collusion, aiming to strangle competition, hike up expenses, and fleece EU taxpayers. Even staunch Remainers have to be glad not to be wrapped up in this…

The farmers’ protests against the EU’s extreme new green policies, which drastically hurt farms’ finances have escalated. A huge column of tractors has choked the bloc’s capital, Brussels, and chaos in the streets outside the EU’s HQ has brought the political heart of Europe to a standstill. Von der Leyen has caved in to some demands, earlier this month scrapping a demand to reduce farming-related emissions like nitrogen by a third, along with others. She may need to listen to more of the farmers’ demands if she’s serious in her bid for re-election…

As protesting farmers take to the streets across Europe, the EU is finally caving in and rolling back on its net zero demands. Ahead of the release of its 2040 emissions reduction plan, the bloc is dropping key elements to placate protestors. Impending bids for re-election can be quite persuasive…

Ursula von der Leyen has now said the EU’s plan to halve pesticide use is a “symbol of polarisation” and should be dropped. Meanwhile, the EU is scrapping a demand to reduce farming-related emissions like nitrogen by a third, as well as its instruction to the public to eat less meat. Rest assured its other bonkers net zero requirements will still be present in full…

Looks like Khan’s love-in with the EU is going through a rough patch as European governments are furious with TfL for wrongly fining hundreds of thousands of EU citizens for driving the in ULEZ area. One poor Frenchman was wrongly fined £25,000 for driving in ULEZ…

Five EU states accused Khan’s TfL of illegally obtaining names and addresses, resulting in 320,000 penalties since 2021. Sleuthing Belgian MP Michael Freilich said “this is possibly one of the largest privacy and data breaches in EU history, but so far no concrete action has been taken while responsibilities are being shunted on to driver.” No amount of smoke can get Khan out of this one…

Even the LibDems have blasted Khan, calling for an immediate investigation as this may damage the city’s reputation. Susan Hall weighed in, telling Guido:

“These are incredibly serious allegations that must be investigated urgently. There can be absolutely no justification for illegally obtaining people’s private information to enforce Sadiq Khan’s unfair ULEZ expansion.

“It is telling that even Sadiq Khan’s friends in the EU are saying he can’t treat drivers like cash cows. As Mayor, I will scrap his ULEZ expansion on day one and ensure these allegations are looked into.”

Since Brexit, the UK is banned from automatic access to personal details of EU residents, so Khan’s indiscriminate ULEZ tax grab from EU citizens violated the law. Khan can raise the EU flag all he wants, this isn’t going to get him in the good books…

Some things never change – the LibDems’ uncontainable Europhilia being one. The party’s parliamentary candidate for Reigate Mark Johnston is claiming today that the EU is more democratic than the UK because “all [UK] ministers [are] appointed by a monarch” and people receive gongs for “incompetence“. Johnston’s political ambitions clearly don’t reach the front benches…

Johnston advertises himself as “an experienced EU policy professional for over two decades” in environment and climate change who wants to “restore all we have lost outside Europe“. No surprise, then, that he runs a WhatsApp channel called “Rejoin News” for those who “want to see the UK rejoin the EU sooner rather than later“. That strikes Guido as an interesting political choice for a seat that actually voted leave. Reigate is ranked above other LibDem Blue Wall targets like Windsor – so much for Ed Davey’s “Tory Removal Service”…

The economy is off to a good start to the new year, set to dodge a recession which is already gripping eurozone countries. The UK’s service sector posted its best performance in six months in December, as according to S&P’s global UK services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), the UK’s reading was 53.4 in December – anything above 50 shows sector growth. The Euro index on the other hand is well below 50, at 47.6…

Economist Julian Jessop nailed it, writing: “Latest PMIs add to evidence that ‘#BrexitBritain’ is still dodging the #recession now engulfing the eurozone…”. Business activity expectations for the year ahead are now the most upbeat since last May while Bloomberg Economics and Deutsche Bank figures have UK inflation dropping below 2% in April. Despite all the gloomy predictions from Remoaners, leaving the the bloc seems to have helped swerve a serious credit crunch. Looks like there’ll be cold, dark nights in Brrr-lin this winter…