I'll no doubt end up doing some introductions of myself later, but for now I guess I should stick to the topic, except to say, UK born and currently resident, have lived in the US, Australia, NL and DE over the years.

1. It is possible, with trust, to circumvent these rules, for example, send the money to $citizen who then donates it.

2. The first big issue is of course that (IMHO) the UK (and other EU electoral systems I am familiar with) money donations are just not as important as they are in the US. For better or worse, our systems have evolved in different directions. This is good because pure money is not so dominant, but it also can mean it is very difficult to lend useful support a candidate from outside her constituency.

3. Do you/we (since I am a newcomer, found the place via dKos just recently) actually have as coherent a general thrust of policy as the US Democratic party does? (Not that they are that coherent of course, but that's another issue, just that that is the backdrop to Kossack influence.)

4. I second all the posts suggesting that we do need to build a pan-European structure of power, but in the absence of a single party to adopt (the way dKos follows the Dems) is there a set of principles existing (that I am, as a newcomer, not aware of?) to guide our efforts?