Another Europe is Possible
Pete Brown
The ‘NO’ vote in
France and Holland was a clear signal that a very large majority of the French
and Dutch people do not want a European Union controlled by free market
liberalism, deregulation and obedience to NATO. It is very probable that the
same result with a significant majority would occur if the proposed constitution
were put to a referendum in the UK in the near future. It is a clear message
that when the people are properly informed and allowed to have their say they
know what they want.
The reaction from
the leading politicians and much of the media is the knee jerk we must expect
when their pride is hurt. But the ‘NO’ clearly highlights the democratic deficit
that has been built into every constitutional document Europe has chosen since
the Treaty of Rome, through Maastricht, Nice and the current shambles. When the
people, the citizens who lives the constitution could control are given the
right to chose they do not necessarily follow their so-called leaders. For to
long too much of the decision making in the Union has been at the behest of the
un-elected commission or the Council of Ministers, the one openly elected body
of the Union, the Parliament has no power to take decisions democratically.
Do the Commission
and the Prime Ministers and Presidents of the 25 countries that make up the EU
really believe that given the opportunity to decide that the masses of ordinary
working people would support a document cobbled together by none less than the
totally discredited former French President Valery Giscard D’Estaing? The whole
project excluded the people from the very beginning and political elite is now
paying the price.
Apart from Spain,
where the government ran an abominable campaign that at times came very close to
breaking the law, every other country that has ratified the Treaty has done so
through its parliament with no recourse to the people whatsoever. The Spanish
Prime Minister Zapatero boasts that 70% of the Spanish people support the
Treaty, this is somewhat economical with the truth when the turn out was a lowly
42% and despite the hindrances put deliberately in the way of the ‘No’ campaign
17.5% finally voted against the Treaty, this from an original opinion poll
position of under 5%.
The NO votes in
France and The Netherlands are about how we are personally recognised and
appreciated. The expansion of the EU was never discussed with the populations of
the original 15 even though it changed the whole concept of a European Union and
the idea that Turkey will be the next member coloured the vote, not for the
majority a vote against the Turkish people, but more a vote against smuggling in
an important ally of NATO and the USA without any discussion.
In Spain it was
clear that those who voted ‘No’ had read much of the Constitution and realised
that when you saw through the rhetoric what was left did nothing for ordinary
working people, a lot of scepticism arose around the clauses about getting
involved in “preventative wars”, an EU army and strong support for NATO. It was
obvious to the Spanish Government, remembering that 90% of Spaniards did not
want Spain to be involved in the invasion of Iraq, that these articles should
not if at all possible become common knowledge so the NO campaign was attacked
as anti-European and only the more pious statements were featured in the state
controlled broadcasts, both TV and radio.
But another Europe
is possible a Europe based on equality, on social justice, on workers rights, on
rights and freedoms for women, on an end to discrimination and the vilification
of immigrants, on the sustainable use of the natural and human resources
available to us. All that is needed is for the political elite to turn a deaf
ear to the whining of big business, take a step back from pandering to the greed
of the multinationals and actually ask ordinary people what they want, then
think about writing a constitution, perhaps employing poets and philosophers
rather lawyers to phrase it.
June 2005