MEPs have outlived their usefulness
Posted by Daniel Hannan on 20 Feb 2008 at 17:10
Tags: EU, Nazi, Ukip, EU Referendum, Lisbon Treaty, Euro-MP
The European Parliament has just voted through the European Constitution Lisbon Treaty by a margin of 85 per cent to 15 per cent. After the vote, the Speaker solemnly announced that the vote “gave expression to the will of the citizens of Europe”. I would have assumed he was joking except that a) he is German and b) MEPs are forever coming out with this sort of humbug.
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Too chicken for a referendum? Protesters at the European Parliament
The chamber, needless to say, burst into thunderous applause. Euro-MPs love to be told that they speak for the people. It makes them feel better about the fact that the people keep voting “No”. It reassures them that they are not alone.
By the same token, they hate being reminded of what their electorates really think. And they usually take out their frustration on the handful of Euro-sceptics in the chamber.
I and a handful of MEPs marked the passage of the Bill by wearing tee-shirts with the word “referendum”. A group of UKIP members had an amusing variant on the theme. They wore bright yellow tops with a picture of a hen, and the caption Too chicken for a referendum?
You can imagine how this went down. Most MEPs, of course, are chicken. They supported referendums until it became clear that they would lose them. Then, overnight, they switched to making hilarious speeches about how each nation had the sovereign right to ratify in its own way. The last thing they want is to be physically reminded of what they had previously promised. We Euro-sceptics are their bad conscience, which is why they so often lose their tempers and resort to playground insults. (Today, the Speaker said that the parents of the pro-referendum MEPs would be ashamed of them. A few weeks ago, the Liberal and Socialist leaders called us Nazis).
Still, if nothing else, the episode demonstrates the utter illegitimacy of the European Parliament. As Oliver Cromwell told an earlier parliament: “You have sat here too long for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”
Posted by Daniel Hannan on 20 Feb 2008 at 17:10
Posted by Daniel Hannan on 20 Feb 2008 at 17:10
Tags: EU, Nazi, Ukip, EU Referendum, Lisbon Treaty, Euro-MP
The European Parliament has just voted through the European Constitution Lisbon Treaty by a margin of 85 per cent to 15 per cent. After the vote, the Speaker solemnly announced that the vote “gave expression to the will of the citizens of Europe”. I would have assumed he was joking except that a) he is German and b) MEPs are forever coming out with this sort of humbug.
Too chicken for a referendum? Protesters at the European Parliament
The chamber, needless to say, burst into thunderous applause. Euro-MPs love to be told that they speak for the people. It makes them feel better about the fact that the people keep voting “No”. It reassures them that they are not alone.
By the same token, they hate being reminded of what their electorates really think. And they usually take out their frustration on the handful of Euro-sceptics in the chamber.
I and a handful of MEPs marked the passage of the Bill by wearing tee-shirts with the word “referendum”. A group of UKIP members had an amusing variant on the theme. They wore bright yellow tops with a picture of a hen, and the caption Too chicken for a referendum?
You can imagine how this went down. Most MEPs, of course, are chicken. They supported referendums until it became clear that they would lose them. Then, overnight, they switched to making hilarious speeches about how each nation had the sovereign right to ratify in its own way. The last thing they want is to be physically reminded of what they had previously promised. We Euro-sceptics are their bad conscience, which is why they so often lose their tempers and resort to playground insults. (Today, the Speaker said that the parents of the pro-referendum MEPs would be ashamed of them. A few weeks ago, the Liberal and Socialist leaders called us Nazis).
Still, if nothing else, the episode demonstrates the utter illegitimacy of the European Parliament. As Oliver Cromwell told an earlier parliament: “You have sat here too long for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”
Posted by Daniel Hannan on 20 Feb 2008 at 17:10
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I shook the Tory blokes hand and wished him well though, he's a top bloke!:nod:
