Time To Blow Away The
Smoke Screen Over Europe
Excerpts from one of Britain's broadsheets

Sir, Chris Sherwood's letter (13th May) was yet another example of a Brussels smoke screen, the like of which we have had to endure these past years. Successive governments have misled the nation, either by design or accident, each time some new major European Union procedure or concept has been on the blocks.

To suggest that the constitution makes legal redress easier would be laughable if it were not such a serious proposal. Far from acknowledging the rights of its individual citizens, the constitution seeks to take away what few rights remain. The only way the EU can be made accountable is by a complete restructuring of its legal and executive framework. This the constitution fails to do.

Mr Sherwood's comment that we have not suffered under EU membership takes some hoisting aboard. I doubt whether those left in the terminally declining fishing industry are delighted with the treatment they have received. Likewise the wretched and costly withdrawal from the ERM has obviously brought about a convenient degree of amnesia.

Taken globally, the EU's economic performance has been appalling (compared even with Japan's). We have not been damaged because we have not followed the economic diktats of Brussels. Come the constitution, that will not be an option.

Both as a citizen and a lawyer, I am deeply concerned at the legal consequences that would follow acceptance of the constitution. It is clear that the principle behind this instrument is to obliterate our constitutional, judicial and individual birthrights to a degree hitherto unknown.
Arthur Denny, Nottingham
Letters to the Editor
Daily Telegraph, 19th May 2003

Sir - A much used weapon in the EU armoury is to say we needn't worry about some loss of sovereignty because "it's nothing new". In other words, it has been cleverly hidden in the dense and ambiguous verbiage of the treatise, and we didn't realize we'd already lost it. That should not stop us being infuriated when we discover how we have been deceived, and demanding that the loss be restored.

We should also be ready for the ink with which the corrupt octopus in Brussels is about to obfuscate the completion of the new constitutional treaty. The Government's contribution to this phase will be to say: "We cannot tell you what we think about your proposal because we must not compromise our position in the (secret) negotiations. But you can trust us to protect the national interest."

Of course - just as successive British governments have done since 1971.

Lord Pearson of Rannoch
London SW1.
Letters to the Editor.
Daily Telegraph, 19thMay, 2003

TO OUR SOVEREIGNTY?
by Phillip Johnson

Although the Government no longer sets interest rates - this has been the responsibility of the Bank of England since 1997 - if the UK joined the euro monetary policy would be decided by the European Central Bank. Its members are unelected and accountable to no national parliament. If the economy goes wrong in Britain, then the Government can be blamed and thrown out. If it goes wrong in a eurozone country, nothing can be done about it.
Daily Telegraph, 16th May 2003