Integration marches on

Although the French and Dutch voters said 'No' to the proposed EU constitution, the unelected Commissioners in Brussels are pressing ahead with plans for deeper and deeper integration.

Already, the framework of the rejected Constitution is under construction brick by brick, clause by clause, as if the 'No' votes never happened.

The fact that 13 of the 25 member states, including mighty Cyprus, Malta and Luxemburg, have said 'Yes', is enough for the Commissioners to carry on regardless.

Strong signal

Commission President, Jose Manuel Barrosso, interpreted this as 'a strong signal that a majority of the member states think that the constitution correlates to their expectations.'

Rather than hold the Commission to account, the toothless European Parliament has duly set up a committee to look at how to proceed with implementation, rather than apply the brakes.

The so-called 'period of reflection' is no such thing.

According to researches by the Tory MEP Daniel Hannan, most of the institutions mentioned in the Constitution are now either up and running, or in the process of being established. These include:

  • The European Space Programme
  • The EU criminal code
  • The European Defence Agency
  • The common asylum policy
  • The mutual defence clause
  • The Fundamental Rights Agency (also known as the Monitoring Centre for Racism and Xenophobia)
  • Autonomous politico-military command structures
  • The European External Action Service (that is, the EU diplomatic corps)
  • The EU prosecuting magistracy
  • The Union Foreign Minister
  • The Charter of Fundamental Rights

So much for a 'period of refllection'!

Fundamentally flawed

Even before the Commission had drawn up a full-blooded written Constitution it had designed a powerful prototype in the form of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

When the Charter was first signed in Nice in December 2000 the then Europe Minister Keith Vaz dismissed any suggestion that it would have an impact on the English legal system. It would have no more legal status than 'the Beano' he claimed.

Jacques Chirac, President of the European Council, had other ideas: ' This text is of major political importance. Its full significance will become apparent in the future.'

As in so many other things, Vaz was wrong. The repercussions of the Charter are already being felt, and as more and more of the discredited constitution is implemented, its impact can only increase.

As Neil O'Brien of Open Europe said in a recent radio interview the Charter will: 'mean that European judges will be able to impose new regulations on our businesses… if you look at what European judges are saying, and the European judges are the ones who are going to have to interpret the treaty, they're saying that it's quotes "nonsense" that it doesn't increase their powers.. The president of the court of justice has said that it will give him huge new powers in new areas.'

Rambling preamble

The preamble to the Charter, which is the lens through which the European Court of Justices view the law is a dangerously woolly mix of platitude and political correctness:

'Conscious of its spiritual and moral heritage, the Union is founded on the indivisible, universal values of human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity...'

This will not, however, be the dignity of a citizen of a nation state, or the freedom to make your own laws in your own parliament, or the equality of opportunity favoured in liberal democracies – instead it will be the equality of outcome so beloved of those who march behind the banner of collective solidarity rather than the flag of individual liberty.

'The Union contributes to the preservation and to the development of these common values while respecting the diversity of cultures and traditions of the peoples of Europe as well as the national identities of the member states....'

Together the Charter and the Constitution would fetter the discretion of national Parliaments still further, extend political correctness and promote the so-called common values of a country called Europe.

Terror tactics

The Commission is also using the threat of terrorism to extend its influence in national legal affairs and to pursue its long-held ambition to create a single judicial system across Europe.

The terror threat is just a cover. If the Commission was serious about tackling Islamic extremism it would have long ago listed Hizbollah as a terrorist organization. But it hasn't.

What the Commission wants is an EU that defines 'our' external borders; sets common rules on who might cross them; creates a criminal justice system and supreme court, and establishes transnational police and security forces.

We know this because they have been trying to do it since the Finnish summit in Tampere in 1998. But progress was slow until the World Trade Centre massacre when the Commissioners conveniently re-labelled their schemes as 'security measures' knowing full well that few, if any, would dare to vote against them.

The real purpose was spelled out candidly – if rather crudely – by the leader of the European Liberals, a British Lib-Dem called Graham Watson, who said: 'Osama bin Laden has done more for European integration than anyone since Jacques Delors.'

As Hannan says in one of his many perceptive articles: 'In a spasm of thoughtlessness, or perhaps of fear, we are giving Brussels control over matters that are central to the relationship between government and citizen. At the same time, we are tossing away the notion of territorial jurisdiction which is perhaps the supreme safeguard of national sovereignty.'

'Europe - Your Country,' say the signs at the European Commission. If we don't speak out, it soon will be.

Related articles

See Rod Liddles Mood music for drifting into a Eurostate in the Sunday Times 13 Feb 2005. Click here

Go to

See Tory MEP Daniel Hannan's website and in in particular his article on The Constitution is already in force: Click here

For details of the O'Brien/Humphry interview: Click here

For the preamble to the Charter on Fundamental Rights: Click here

Official sites

For official profile of Manuel Jose Barroso see: Click here

European Commission Justice and Home Affairs: Click here

Back to Top