The United States of Europe
The EU clearly aims at political union - a single European superstate, of which Britain would merely be a province. When we joined , what is now the EU was just a free trade area. Now the aim of our European partners, particularly Germany and the European Commission, is political union - forming a single country called Europe, or the United States of Europe. They are very open about this (see quotes from EU leaders, below). The UK is often alone in opposing political union, and alone in trying to hide it from our voters. Both of our main parties claim to be against political union, but they don't do anything to stop it. It is not enough to say we oppose further integration. What will we do about it?
In Radio 4's recent poll on " Who runs Britain ?" EU President Barrosa received the most votes, three times as many as Tony Blair. So Britons understand that Barrosa, a former Maoist, someone whom the electorate had no hand in picking, has more control over us than our own Prime Minister.
The EU is Undemocratic
Perhaps the worst thing about the EU is the complete lack of democratic accountability. EU leaders show contempt for their voters, who clearly "don't understand" the whole glorious concept. On losing the French Referendum vote, former French President Giscard d'Estaing said "It is not France that has said no. It is 55% of the French people." (FT 23 May 2006)
Our democracy works - if we don't like a Government we throw them out. This is a right won through one thousand years of this nation's history, but thrown away at the stroke of a pen by becoming a member of the EU. European voters cannot throw out the European Commission - it is not elected. The European Parliament has little power. It does not form a Government, like ours does. The only way you change a Government is by voting for a different party, which then forms a new Government. There are no parties in the European Parliament big enough to do this, because there are no political parties which cover the whole of Europe. There is no elected Government of Europe, and no Opposition to offer an alternative Government. There aren't any newspapers or TV programmes that can speak to the whole of Europe. There are few opinion polls for the whole of Europe. Decisions in Europe depend on private deals between politicians, not on public opinion. There is a huge democratic deficit in the way the EU runs its affairs.
The European Parliament is not a real parliament, with the power to make or break governments. MEPs speak in the Chamber for six minutes per year, on average. There are no real debates - just set speeches which bear little relation to one another. In one week an MEP may vote over 1000 times - they often scarcely know what they are voting for or against, but blindly follow lists from the party whips. How else could they cover so many topics? There is no equivalent of PM's Question Time - no one can question the EU leaders. MEPs are selected from regional Party lists, so the power is with the Party machine, not the individual MEP. An MEP does not have a direct relationship with his constituents, who can vote him out.
The EU is turning on its head a principle which Europeans have spent 300 years fighting to establish - that rulers should be accountable to their people. The EU is accountable to no-one. Eurocrats are well aware that the EU would never have got so far if they had had to consult their voters at each successive transfer of powers to Brussels.
MEPs' Lack of Accountability
In all the Member States it is possible for citizens to discover how their elected representatives have performed when legislation is enacted at national level, either through press or TV reports, reading documents such as Hansard, or by attending the public gallery when proposed legislation is discussed. They are thus in a position to decide how to vote when elections are held. After 50 years of operation of the EC, it is still impossible for EC citizens to find out how their elected representatives have performed when legislation is adopted within the Council of Ministers, which, in most cases, is the institution which has the final say.
The institutions are past masters at deceiving EC citizens about how the set-up works. The “parliament” is by and large a side show. The Council of Ministers is said to be televised, when, in fact, television reporting stops when ministers enter the room and the doors are closed.
Unless you are able to discover how your elected representatives have performed when legislation is adopted, you are denied the opportunity of exercising democratic control over decisions which affect you.
European Union Leaders on Political Union
If you doubt whether the aim of the EU project is a United States of Europe, read the following quotations from EU leaders:
"The Constitution is the capstone of a European Federal State"
- Guy Verhofstadt, Prime Minister of Belgium, 2007
"Sometimes I like to compare the EU as a creation to the organisation of empire. We have the dimension of empire. What we have is the first non-imperial empire," José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, July 2007
"My dream is that one day we might be able to applaud a United States of Europe." Konrad Adenaur, quoted by the Europe People's Party , the largest grouping in the European Parliament, in a brochure "50 Years of European Integration", March 07.
"We are building something which is truly federal or a true union of states. We must ...... go towards a United States of Europe". Pierre Moscovici, French Europe Minister, speech to EU convention, 28 Feb 02
"Monetary Union has to be complemented by political union - that was always the presumption of Europeans" Chancellor Schroder, interview with UK newspaper, 22 Feb 02
"The single market was the theme of the 80s; the single currency the theme of the 90s; and we must now face the difficult task of moving towards a single economy and a single political unity" Romano Prodi , Head of the European Commission, speech to MEPs, 1999
"Transforming the European Union into a single state with one army, one constitution and one foreign policy is the critical challenge of the age" J Fischer, German Foreign Minister, speech to MEPs, November 1999
"In the next six months, we will talk a lot about political union, and rightly so. Political union is inseparable from economic union" Laurent Fabius, French Finance Minister, FT 24 July 00
Thus the preconditions have been laid for the development of the EU into a truly comprehensive political union. ... The EU is increasingly developing into a political union. Press & Information Office of the Federal German Govt, 2000 - booklet "The Federal Republic of Germany - 50 Years On"
"The single currency is the greatest abandonment of sovereignty since the foundation of the European Community... It is a decision of an essentially political nature. We need this united Europe .. we must never forget that the euro is an instrument for this project" Felipe Gonzalez , former Prime Minister of Spain, Apr 99
We now need an economic government .... Ultimately the corporate tax system as a whole will have to be harmonised. Lionel Jospin, French Prime Minister, May 2001
"The process of monetary union goes hand in hand - must go hand in hand - with political integration and ultimately political union. EMU is, and always was meant to be, a stepping stone on the way to a united Europe. " Wim Duisenberg , President of the European Central Bank, 1997
"It is essential for the EU to become a political power and not just a group of nation states". Pierre Muscovici, French Minister for European Affairs, interview in Corriere della Sera, Oct 01
The national budget policies are still too often conceived on the basis of national interests. Romano Prodi, Head of European Commission, May 2001
"The introduction of the Euro is probably the most important integrating step since the beginning of the unification process. It is certain that the times of independent nation states are definitely over" Chancellor Schroeder
"Monetary union is the motor of European integration." Jean-Luc Dehaene, Belgian Prime Minister
If EMU does not go ahead, there will be great danger of seeing Europe drift progressively towards a free trade zone - precisely what we have been trying to avoid for 25 years. Yves Thibault De Siguy, Monetary Affairs Commissioner
The Franco-German matrix is, and always will be, the determining factor in the EU" Commissioners Lamy and Verheugen (DT 26 Jan 02)
EU leaders are at least honest about their aims. Ours are not - they all claim that political union is not on the EU agenda.
We will Leave the European Union - when we see it for what it is.
EEuropean Union leaders aim to turn the European Union into a United States of Europe. The EU Treaty will help create a federal Europe - a United States of Europe. Give us an EU Referendum. Give us |
