European Parliament to ban Eurosceptic groups

[Steve Gardner]

This article is simply unbelievable.

As UKIP's Nigel Farage says, the changes being proposed are "anti-democratic and frankly scary". And he couldn't be more spot about the fact that "[t]hese people are so scared of public opinion they are willing to set in stone the right to ignore it."

No wonder our hapless Prime Minister smuggled himself off to Portugal to sign this treaty without fanfare.

And as for EU President Burroso's comment, when referring to a possible "No" vote in Ireland's upcoming referendums, that "[w]e will all pay a price for it, Ireland included, if this is not done in a proper way" - well, one has to wonder what the "proper way" is.

Is it the will of the people, as determined by a robust, transparent democratic process, or the way these beauracrats decide it should be once they've managed to eliminate any dissenters?

Source: The Telegraph

The European Union assembly’s political establishment is pushing through changes that will silence dissidents by changing the rules allowing Euro-MPs to form political groupings.

Richard Corbett, a British Labour MEP, is leading the charge to cut the number of party political tendencies in the Parliament next year, a move that would dissolve UKIP’s pan-European Eurosceptic “Independence and Democracy” grouping.

Under the rule change, the largest and msot pro-EU groups would tighten their grip on the Parliament’s political agenda and keep control of lavish funding.

”It would prevent single issue politicians from being given undue support from the public purse,” said Mr Corbett.

”We want to avoid the formation of a fragmented Parliament, deeply divided into many small groups and unable to work effectively.”

Mr Corbett’s proposals will also give the President of the Parliament sweeping powers to approve or reject parliamentary questions.

Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, claimed that the move goes hand in hand with the denial of popular votes on the new EU Treaty.

”Welcome to your future. This shows an EU mindset that is arrogant, anti-democratic and frankly scary,” he said.

”These people are so scared of public opinion they are willing to set in stone the right to ignore it. Freedom requires the governing elite to be held to account. They must be getting very worried if they are enacting such dictatorial powers for themselves.”

Current rules allow 20 MEPs from a fifth of the EU’s member states to form groupings, giving them a say in the Parliament’s administration and power structure.

Under the changes, the threshold would become 30 MEPs from one quarter of the EU’s member states.

The Liberal Democrats, Greens, the far Left, Eurosceptics and other groupings have vowed to oppose the plans during a vote scheduled for July 9. Andrew Duff, leader of Britain’s Liberal Democrat Euro-MPs and a committed EU Federalist, has opposed the silencing of UKIP on the basis of democratic principle.

”Whatever one’s views about their politics it cannot be argued that these small groups do not represent a strand of European public opinion,” he said.

”If the European Parliament is to be the legitimate forum for post-national democracy, all sorts of minority opinions have to be given effective, if proportionate representation.”

But the proposals are expected to be passed with the backing of the Parliament’s centre-Left and Right groupings, which account for 64 per cent of MEPs, including British Conservative and Labour deputies.

The row over the new EU Treaty meanwhile took a new turn yesterday after José Manuel Barroso, the Commission President, warned Irish voters that they will “pay” if they reject the document in a referendum next month.

Speaking in Brussels on Monday night, Mr Barroso attempted to head off growing opposition to the Treaty by threatening outcast status for Ireland.

”If there was a ‘No’ in Ireland or in another country, it would have a very negative effect for the EU. We will all pay a price for it, Ireland included, if this is not done in a proper way,” he said.

Officials fear that advanced plans to create a new EU President, Foreign Minister and European diplomatic service will be sunk by an Irish referendum rejection on June 12.

The new Lisbon Treaty replaces the old EU Constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters three years ago. While the other EU member states, such as Britain, have successfully evaded popular votes, Ireland is constitutionally required to hold a referendum and Brussels dreads a repeat of the 2001 Irish rejection of the Nice Treaty.

Yesterday, Paddy Power Plc, Ireland’s biggest bookmaker, rung alarm bells by following the opinion polls to cut the odds of a referendum rejection by half – from 4-1 to 2-1.

Superstitious EU officials are also keenly aware that the referendum result will be announced on an inauspicious date, Friday the 13th of June.

[teddy]

Everything about the shift towards Europe is underhand. And most people sit by thinking it's a good thing we're going into Europe, and those against it are just Xenophobics, without thinking of the bigger problem. "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely".

[Steve Gardner]

Well see on Thursday whether Ireland votes the 'proper way' (as EU President José Manuel Barroso put it) in the referendum on the EU Treaty.

His interpretation of the 'proper way' is, of course, "Yes". I wonder what 'price' Ireland and the other EU members will 'pay' if the "No" vote gets it?

Another re-hashing of the Treaty? And another, and another until eventually we all vote the 'proper' way?

Source and full article: BBC

The "Yes" and "No" camps have been fighting it out in the run-up to Ireland's referendum on the Lisbon EU reform treaty on Thursday, reports the BBC's Yvonne Murray from Dublin.

As Irish landmarks go, there are few more symbolic than the GPO building on O'Connell Street in Dublin - the scene of the Easter Rising in 1916.

On Saturday, anti-treaty campaign groups gathered outside and unfurled a banner, which read: "People died for our freedom. Don't give it away. Vote No."

In front of the banner, three people dressed in gorilla suits danced to foot-tapping music blaring from a portable sound system.

"Like the three monkeys, the new Europe will not see you, hear you or speak to you," said Richard Greene, spokesman for the anti-Lisbon treaty Coir campaign group.

"If Lisbon is passed, we lose control not only of our taxation issues, but also workers' rights issues and family and social issues.

"There's a lot of concern about abortion and other issues like the adoption of children by homosexuals," Mr Greene said.

"These are controversial issues, but regardless of what Irish people think, they should be decided by Irish people and should not be imposed by unelected judges sitting 1,000 miles away in a court in Luxembourg."

[Steve Gardner]

Thank (enter diety of choice) for people like Stuart Wheeler.

Let's hope he can turn this devious bunch of nutjobs over in the courts and give us the referendum we ought to have and very clearly expected to have.

Source: BBC

Millionaire Stuart Wheeler is going to the High Court later to challenge the government's decision not to hold a referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty.

Gordon Brown has ruled out a public vote, saying the treaty does not alter the UK's constitution.

But Mr Wheeler, 73, has won the right to a judicial review of that decision. He says the public had "a legitimate expectation" of a referendum.

The government has said it is "confident" its case is strong.

In March, MPs voted by 346 votes to 206 to approve the EU (Amendment) Bill.

The Bill - now in the Lords - will ratify the Lisbon Treaty, which was drawn up to replace the EU constitution after that was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

Conservative Party donor Mr Wheeler claims a referendum was promised on the constitution and as, in his eyes, the Lisbon Treaty is virtually identical, it too should be put to a vote.

The two-day review will be heard just days before voters in Ireland, the only EU state holding a referendum, go to the polls.

'Rebranding'

Mr Wheeler said in a statement that he hoped to prove the refusal to hold a referendum was "not only immoral but illegal, too".

"This was a referendum the people of Britain were promised well before the last election, during it, and after it," he said.

"But instead of fulfilling that promise, Gordon Brown has tried to push the constitution in via the back door by rebranding a document and presenting it as a completely different text.

"This is a ridiculous argument."

Government lawyers had argued that neither Mr Brown nor Foreign Secretary David Miliband had said anything amounting to a promise to hold a referendum.

But their argument was overruled. After Mr Wheeler won the right to a review, a Foreign Office spokesman said the decision was not a surprise as the threshold for deciding whether a case was arguable was low.

"We are confident of the strength of our case on this occasion and look forward to putting our arguments before the court in more detail in due course," he said.

The House of Lords is due to vote on calls for a referendum on 11 June.

The Lisbon Treaty contains many of the reforms outlined in the constitution, including changes to voting rights and the creation of a European Council president, but drops the name "constitution", a reference to EU symbols and an article on the primacy of EU law.