Allister tells EU to stop chasing moonbeam of Constitution
22 June 2006
DUP MEP Jim Allister congratulated the Austrian Foreign Minister, Mr Winkler, as representative of the outgoing Presidency of the Council of Ministers, on his failure to achieve progress on the EU Constitution. Mr Winkler was addressing the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the European Parliament on the achievements of the Austrian Presidency. The Ulster MEP regretted that so much time, effort and energy had been wasted in chasing the moonbeam of the Constitution.
Mr Allister reminded the Minister that in the last 6 months the Euro-barometer poll showed the level of trust in the EU had never been lower, with citizens wanting less not more Europe. Even within the European Parliament there has been a dramatic haemorrhaging of support, with only 347 members voting (14/6/06) in favour of the "period of reflection" report, 212 against and 70 abstaining. Interestingly only one British MEP voted in favour.
Mr Allister told the Secretary of State that Europe should move on and deal with the real concerns of citizens, which could best be achieved by repatriating powers back to the nation states and thereby returning power closer to the people.
