Allister urges Blair to abandon political union

23 June 2005

DUP MEP JIM ALLISTER was the only Northern Ireland MEP called to speak in the debate following Tony Blair's address to the European Parliament.  In his speech Mr Allister urged the PM to pursue a radical agenda of reform, replacing political union with free trade as the cornerstone of Europe, whose present structures and policies had failed.

In his remarks Mr Allister said:-

"Mr Blair, following the referendum rejections of the Constitution, you rightly said that "profound questions" now arose about the future of Europe.  From the example of last weekend, it is clear the present over-centralised EU is not working.  Though Mr Juncker sought yesterday to make the UK a scapegoat, the reality is that it is the structures and policies of Europe which are fatally flawed.

Over the next 6 months you have a perfect opportunity to promote radical solutions.  Sticky plaster politics won't work.  "Ever closer union" has failed. Its time to embrace  the primacy of the nation states over the stifling control of Brussels, its time to  repatriate key powers to national parliaments and governments, its time to return to making free trade, not political union, the cornerstone of Europe.

Could I also urge you as PM of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to stand up unashamedly for the rightful interests of the UK, not least the wholly justified rebate, which you can properly defend on its own merits without cloaking that defence in agricultural issues, which, I remind you, are  themselves important to my part of your country."

EU Parliament