Murphy's letter from Edinburgh

 

No, No, No, No, No,

As expected the French have sent out a very clear message on the EU - European Union - by giving a resounding no vote to the ratification of the treaty.  I can't say it was unexpected given the way the European Union has gone since its beginning.

Given the history of European Union and the lack of democracy and say in it by the people of Europe, I see this more than a protest vote.  It is something that has being bubbling away for a long time where the governments of Europe have failed to give the electorate any say in the Europe Union at all, never mind the direction it is going in.

I see the European Union as becoming an empire or a superstate - it's up to you what you want to call it, but the end product is still the same.  Europe has become larger with many votes and ratifications taken by the governments but with no input from the people involved such as the electorate.  It has become like a steamroller without a driver.  No one seems to know where it is going, yet we are being told it is good for us.

It is not the first time that empires have existed in historical terms.  The Romans had an empire, the British had an empire, as did the Spanish, the French and latterly the USSR. They all collapsed through centralisation and the need for the people of the countries involved wanting their own independence and no one agreeing to anything in the end.  But what they wanted most was their own identity.

The world has changed since those days and according too those who advocate the expansion and the need to move forward with the future.  That's where problems come in with the European Union.

The ordinary man tends take a pragmatic look at the world and they are quite prepared to trade with the other European countries, but they are not prepared to be dictated too by some faceless centralised bureaucracy where they make the decisions for you and you have no say in what they are doing.

Even in the ratification of the treaty some governments didn't give their people any say on it at all, they ratified it on their behalf deciding for their electorate that they know best.  Spain voted yes and France voted no.  The people from the Netherlands' vote on it on Wednesday and for that one we will have to wait and see.

The British have been told they will have a vote when it suits the government.  Is this the type of democracy that the European Union is about, where some countries get the vote and others don't?  And will the people who had no say because their governments decided what was best for them come back at a later date and say we never voted for that?

The indications are that when the British electorate get to vote on the treaty they will vote no.  Most people see Europe as becoming too large and too bureaucratic for their liking, and they don't like the way that Europe Union is going.  Identity is also a very important issue which seems to getting ignored or sidelined as we go further into this new empire willingly.

Well the governments involved seem to think we are going in to it willingly, but when you ask the British electorate they have a different idea on the issue, and this is something that some governments have failed to listen too in their eagerness too rush in to their new partnership with the new empire.

It is now time to let the people of this country know what the plans are and what being British will mean in this new empire before we go any further with it.  Even better, let's hold a referendum and let's see if the British electorate still want to remain in Europe under the present conditions.

Written by Andrew Murphy 30 May 2005

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