Yvonne the Cow

Those who want out of the EU know exactly how Yvonne feels in her desire to escape from the Common Agricultural Policy and to live free with her sister and calf and we wish her every happiness at her new abode in the sanctuary run by the Gut Aiderbichl. Freedom is a strong bovine emotion and seemingly as strong as any that runs in the human breast. One has to wonder whether Yvonne has also studied the Wealth of Nations and understands all about free markets since the kind of farm she escaped from was probably like many German farms which by our standards would be called a smallholding which with many French farms was just the kind of thing the CAP was set up to protect. Good for the producers but bad for consumers which of course was rightly strongly disapproved of by Adam Smith.  Yvonne clearly wanted a bigger horizon, somewhere where she could feel in control of her own destiny and to produce milk in exchange for wide pastures. As it is with Yvonne so it is with those of us who oppose the mercantilist view now being pursued by Germany in another field, no pun intended. Open Europe reports that according to Marco Zatterin, La Stampa's Brussels correspondent, Germany is trying to get the EU Energy Commissioner to propose that all new energy deals between EU members and third countries be examined by the EU before they are closed. This is because Germany is apparently worried that the UK, France and Italy have stolen a march on it by already doing oil deals with the new Libyan regime. Yvonne would clearly think that was tough luck as after all a free market is a fee market. Yvonne would be right and like her we must say no to any market rigging.