Allister tells EU to move on
23 May 2007
Speaking in yet another debate in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on the EU Constitution, Jim Allister MEP chided the political elite for being stuck in a rut while the citizens of Europe had moved on and were more concerned with issues that affected their everyday lives.
In the course of his remarks Mr Allister said:-
"How much energy has now been wasted on chasing the moonbeam of an EU Constitution? In the rarefied atmosphere of this House it may seem important, but, frankly, most of our citizens have moved on and care more about good education, health care and house prices - things a Constitution will not change.
Part of the reason the EU institutions are stuck in this rut is because of the refusal to take a democratic no for an answer. These debates are dominated by siren demands for what is unobtainable and stratagems to avoid letting the citizens have their say. Hence, the ploys of a change of title, a slimmed down text and aversion to referenda.
Rejig it as you might, but that which imposes the apparatus of statehood on the EU, with a President and Foreign Minister, and further savages national sovereignty by increasing Qualified Majority Voting, is the same old tired, tarnished product upon which citizens must have their say. Desperate as my own Government is to welch on its pledge of a referendum, we in the United Kingdom must have the right to choose. The Government is running scared because it knows the people want less Europe, not more. Only those lacking confidence in their own case, or with a knavish design to thwart public opinion, run away from letting the people decide."
