"Time to put up or shut up" - Allister
01 March 2007
Following the meeting in Madrid of the self-styled "Friends of the Constitution" - consisting of the 18 EU states which have ratified the Constitutional Treaty - the EP's Constitutional Affairs Committee has again debated the rejected Constitution. DUP MEP Jim Allister was one of the Eurosceptics to challenge the Madrid consensus.
He took issue with the insistence of the Madrid 18 that the Constitution, merely updated, must proceed. Mr Allister reminded the Committee that within the terms of the Treaty the Constitution could only proceed with approval by all Member States. "This is not forthcoming, nor will it be. It's time you faced up to that reality", warned the Ulster Euro MP.
"The ultimate logic of the Madrid 18, and their fidelity to the Constitution, is that if they will not be bound by the unanimity required, then they must take their own steps. If their commitment to the Constitution is such that they want a two-speed Europe, then let them be honest enough to say that. If they must go where others, like the UK, democratically do not wish to go, then, the onus is on them. Such break-up of the hegemony of the Europe holds no fear for me", declared Mr Allister.
