Callanan: EU must respect UK treaty veto, not bypass it
Posted, January 06, 2012 @ 15:00
Brussels, 6th January 2012 -- As the working group drafting the "international agreement on a reinforced economic union" (the new intergovernmental treaty creating the Fiscal Union (FU)) reconvenes today, Martin Callanan MEP, European Conservatives and Reformists group chairman, and leader of the UK Conservative MEPs, warned against EU leaders attempting to bypass the UK veto by using EU institutions for a treaty signed by up to 26 EU member states.
He said:
"European federalists simply do not understand the meaning of the word 'no'. Pushing ahead with a new treaty using EU institutions would completely bypass the will of a major EU member state leader, who has the clear backing of his electorate for the action he took.
"The UK Prime Minister needs to stand strong against efforts to bypass his veto. It is simply unacceptable that the new treaty being discussed will specify a clear aim to bring it fully within the framework of EU law as rapidly as possible.
"By only requiring a certain number of Euro zone countries to ratify the treaty before it comes into effect we have effectively sounded the death knell for national parliamentary democracy within the Euro zone. Scared smaller countries are being forced to remain within a currency where the project is now deemed more important than their long term growth, and now they are being forced to hand over powers to the European Commission regardless of whether their parliaments ratify this treaty.
"Unfortunately, the EU has resorted to doing what it does best: completely failing to understand the problem and instead resorting to lengthy discussions about institutions and treaties. There seems to be nothing a federalist loves more than an academic discussion about legal mechanisms at a time when the European economy is on the verge of meltdown.
"Regardless of what is decided in this intergovernmental treaty, we already know that it is in no way a silver bullet. Since it was agreed in December we have continued to see the gradual slide of the Euro into the abyss. I do not want this to happen but we need economic realism from EU leaders, not more navel-gazing.
"It’s about time EU leaders stopped talking treaties and started tackling the cause of this crisis. The Euro is burning and our leaders continue to fiddle around the edges."