THE DESTRUCTION OF DEMOCRACY
It is one of the great Ironies of history that the European Union (EU), a creation of democratic European nations, is totally undemocratic, would fail its own conditions for membership, and is a major threat to the freedoms of all its citizens.
The EU is the product of a failed political establishment, who still think in the corporatist terms of the early twentieth century. It is almost entirely based on the worst aspects of the French political system, which is run by a closed and arrogant elite who effectively ignore the wishes of those outside their own magic circle.
The European Parliament is not a democratic body, which exercises control over the executive, but a virtually powerless talking shop, that provides a fig leaf of democracy.
DID YOU KNOW?
Members of the European Parliament (MEP):
·Have no right to initiate legislation, merely to confirm that placed before them by the bureaucrats of the European Commission
·Are elected on party lists and the decision on which individuals succeed is, in most cases, in the hands of party apparatchiks
·Are allowed only a strictly limited time to speak in the European Parliament, often as little as ninety seconds, before the microphone is switched off
·Are supposed to represent constituencies of approaching one million voters, clearly an impossibility
Yet, even were the European Parliament to be massIvely reformed, it could not act as a democratic body. For there is no common European identity around which it can create a true parllament like those in the individual nation states.
The European Commissioners and their bureaucratic minions take full advantage of this lack of effective scrutiny to unleash a flood of directives, which become law throughout the EU. Despite promises that our Parliament at Westminster would oversee such legislation, its sheer volume ensures that this does not happen, vast numbers even being implemented during Parliamentary recesses. This transfer of power from Westminster to Brussels is reducing our once proud Parliament into little more than a rubber stamping mechanism. The more honest Members of our Parliament now freely admit that they can no longer act for their constituents, on many issues.
We should be seeking a Europe of free, democratic nation states not ruled by the bureaucratic monster in Brussels
RIP DEMOCRACY
The proposed regional assemblies will complete the neutering of Westminster, as they will report directly to Brussels, cutting British MPs out of the few remaining areas in which they may still take action. The assemblies, like the European Parliament, will be bodies full of career politicians, taking fat salaries and large expense accounts, whose only loyalty will be to party machines. They will be no more than EU puppets.
If this terrible process continues, the British, who painfully evolved a parliamentary democracy, accountable to the people, face electing politicians to positions without power. The real power will be with unelected officials in Brussels. This is not a mailer that can be left to the politicians because, with a few honourable exceptions, they have so often proven that they are not true champions of democracy.
The ideals of freedom and democracy, fundamental to the parliamentary democracies of Western Europe, should not be exchanged for the dead hand of the bureaucrats in Brussels and the bankers In Frankfurt
Support an outward looking vision of free, independent nations, co-operating in friendship, and encouraging the democratic involvement of all its peoples in their future. Reject the stifling, centrist regime being created in Brussels.
Peace and freedom depend on democracy, not bureaucratic diktat
WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT?
Join the Campaign for an independent Britain and help us alert the British people
to the peril in which our nation and our democracy now stands
Please join us by completing this form
I enclose a subscription of £______(minimum £10). Cheque, or postal orders, made payable to “Campaign for an Independent Britain”, should be sent to 81 Ashmole Street London 5W8 INF
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Please feel free to copy this leaflet In Its entirety should you wish to dIstribute it. (April2003)
THE EU CONS TITUTION,
A FINAL BETRAYAL OF BRITAIN?
Did you know that the proposed Constitution for the European Union could effectively end Britain’s history as an independent nation? The proposed Constitution is openly federalist and would leave us only a few steps away from the birth of a unitary European state. This new state would have no place for democratic accountability or the interests of the individual member nations, which could cease to exist in any meaningful sense.
Under its terms. Britain could lose:
Its seat on the UN Security Council
Its individual membership of NATO
Its right to its own foreign policy
Its right to operate its own police force and courts
Its control over social policy, public health, transport, justice, agriculture, fisheries, energy, the economy, consumer protection, the environment, internal & extemal trade and even taxation
In short, the EU would have carte blanche to interfere in every aspect
of the government of Britain
A HISTORIC GOODBYE TO EUROPE’S
NATION STATES?
The proposed Constitution would be just as damaging to the rest of the members of the EU. Even France would have to give up its seat on the UN Security Council. Do we all really want the EU to speak for us in the UN and NATO?
The key clause in the treaty is Article 9: “The Constitution and law adopted by the Union Institutions in exercising competences conferred on it by the Constitution shall have primacy over the law of the member states”. This sentence, if it is adopted in the final draft, would mark the death of the nation states of Europe and the birth of the European super-state, that we have been told so often would never happen.
Could we trust the EU to act wisely and represent our interests as a people, if our nation ceases to exist? The answer must be a very firm NO. There would be no democratic control over its actions and it would be completely disconnected from the electorate in any meaningful sense.
SAY NO TO THE EU CONSTITUTION
The proposed constitution would:
Establish a United States of Europe
Change the whole legal basis of the European Union
Mean that the EU would cease to be a collection of nation states
Make the EU a new legal personality of its own, with common citizenship and a ‘duty of loyal cooperation’ with Brussels
THE CHANCELLOR, FOREIGN SECRETARY AND
DEFENCE SECRETARY TO BE MADE REDUNDANT?
The EU is trying to evolve into a new state, which would take over responsibility for coordinating economic policy and for ‘defining and implementing’ foreign and defence policy. This alone would give the European institutions power over three of Britain’s chief offices of state. This would make the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Foreign Secretary and the Secretary for Defence surplus to requirements.
The EU Constitution, as it is presently worded would destroy European democracy. The European nations would cease to be self-governing. This must NEVER be allowed to happen.
To preserve, protect and defend our identity, our democtitic heritage
and our economic future, Britain must reject the Constitution or, better still,
leave the EU as soon as possible.
WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT?
Write to your MP now and say a very firm NO to the EU Constitution.
Join our campaign and help us alert the British people to the threat that their nation may soon cease to exist.
Please join us by completing this form.
I enclose a subscription of £______(minimum £10). Cheque, or postal orders, made payable to “Campaign for an Independent Britain”, should be sent to 81 Ashmole Street London 5W8 INF
Name______(Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms)
Address ______
Telephonee-mail____________
Constituency ______
Campaign for an Independent Britain - Telephone: 020-8340-0314 Fax: 020-7582 7021
e-mail: Website:
BACK YOUR COUNTRY - JOIN OUR CAMPAIGN
Please feel free to copy this leaflet In Its entirety should you wish to dIstribute it. (April2003)
Accepting The EU Constitution
Would Mean the End of Our Nation
The British electorate is to be asked to vote in a referendum on a Constitution for Europe. We are at a crossroads in our relationship with the EU. We will be told that it is in our best interests to support the Constitution but DON’T BE FOOLED, it is the final building block in the country called Europe, in which we would ultimately become just a province. Vote NO to a European Constitution.
How Would the EU Constitution Affect Britain?
Law and Order
Article III, 172 -“European framework laws may establish minimum rules concerning the rights of individuals in criminal procedures”
The EU wants us to be part of a single legal area, in which our Common Law would have to be replaced by the Napoleonic code of Corpus Juris. This would end our right to trial by jury, habeas corpus and even the presumption of innocence. This means that a British citizen could be arrested within the UK, on the order of a judge elsewhere in the EU, imprisoned in a foreign jail, refused the right to appear before a court, be presumed guilty and finally tried by professional judges, without the right do be heard by a jury.
Foreign Affairs and Defence
Article Ill, 225 — “The Union may conclude agreements with one or more third countries or international organisations. Agreements concluded by the Union are binding upon its Member States”
Article 15 — “The Union’s competence in matters of common foreign and security policy shall cover all areas and all questions relating to the Union’s security. Member states shall actively and unreservedly support the Union’s common foreign and security policy in a spirit of loyalty and mutual solidarity and shall comply in this area”
There would be a President of Europe who would take precedence over all heads of state, a new EU foreign minister would negotiate treaties, while the proposal has been made that both Britain and France could lose their seats on the UN Security Council. We are no longer able to speak for ourselves on trade and in future would be unable to decide when and where our Armed Forces can be deployed, so our young people might be sent to die on the orders of Brussels.
Economic Policy
Article 111, 62 — “European Law shall lay down measures for the harmonisation of legislation concerning turnover taxes, excise duties and other forms of indirect taxation”
Article 14 — “The Union shall ensure co-ordination of the economic and employment policies of the member States”
The implications of these clauses are horrendous. Brussels would be able to direct VAT to be added to goods and services, which are currently exempt, such as children’s clothes. They would also be able to cancel our £3 billion per year rebate and force us to adopt the euro without a referendum. Brussels would also take over our oil and gas as ‘common resources’ as they have already done with our fishing grounds, which have been plundered.
The EU Constitution is the Greatest Threat to our Country Since the Second World War
Loss of Independence
Article 10 — “The Constitution and law adopted by the Union’s institutions in exercising corn petences conferred on it, shall have primacy over the law of the member states”
This clause is the death knell of the nation states within the EU as it abolishes the current requirement that directives from Brussels must be consented to by Parliament. Once adopted the Constitution would mean that all our laws were produced, not by our elected representatives in Westminster, but by bureaucrats in Brussels.
The Choice We Face
We have been lied to for decades about the European project. It was always intended to result in a single European state, ruled by the appointed bureaucrats of the European Commission, whose decisions will be enforced by the European Court, a body that bears no relation to what we would consider a court of law, as it is totally committed to supporting the institutions of the EU.
The political elite who have been telling us that the EU is only about trade can no longer claim this to be true for an organisation which has its own anthem, flag and parliament and seeks its own army, police force, foreign minister and president. None of these things are needed for trade! We trade with the rest of the world without having the trappings of a separate state foisted upon us. The reality is that the EU is a completely undemocratic organisation, steeped in corruption, whose policies are turning Europe into an economic wasteland.
We must ignore the self-interested politicians who tell us we shoutd continue down the road of European integration. They are afraid of losing their seats on the gravy train, which provides them with well-paid rest cures in Brussels and allows them to feel important at pan European meetings.
Reject a Constitution for Europe — It Would be the final betrayal
of our Country and our Democracy
WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT?
Join the Campaign for an Independent Britain now by completing this form.
I enclose a subscription of £______(minimum £10). Cheque, or postal orders, made payable to “Campaign for an Independent Britain”, should be sent to 81 Ashmole Street London 5W8 INF
Name______(Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms)
Address ______
Telephonee-mail____________
Constituency ______
Campaign for an Independent Britain - Telephone: 020-8340-0314 Fax: 020-7582 7021
e-mail: Website:
A Vision for the Young People of Europe
Those in favour of a single European state try to claim that their cause is progressive while their opponents are reactionary and old fashioned.
The truth is very different!
The European Union is the product of a failed political class who still think in the corporatist terms of the early twentieth century. It is a lumbering behemoth, inward looking, protectionist, corrupt and undemocratic. It has nothing to offer to the young people of Europe and must be rejected if our societies are to progress.
It is those who support a Europe offree, democratic nation states who are the true wave of the future.
Are you idealistic?
If so, stand up for the ideals of freedom and democracy, which underpin the parliamentary democracies of Western Europe, and against a one-size-fits-none superstate run by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels and bankers in Frankfurt.
Do you believe in progress?
Then support an outward looking vision of free, independent nations, co-operating in friendship, and encouraging the democratic involvement of all its peoples in their future. Reject the stifling, centrist regime being created in Brussels.
Are you an internationalist?
We want friendship for all nations of goodwill, looking out across the oceans to every continent. The architects of the European Union want to build a superpower rival to the USA and seek to impose their will on weaker nations of the third world.
Are you Pro-European?
We most certainly are but we love the diversity of Europe and the richness of her cultures. We respect the rights of her peoples to develop differently, but in cooperation. The European Union seeks to impose a dull uniformity so that the political class may dominate all others by creating unaccountable transnational institutions.
Do you believe in peace?
After the horrors of the twentieth century we desire no more strife in Europe. However the crushing of national independence by the single European state is more likely to lead to conflict in Europe than prevent it. No forced federation has survived. Peace depends on democracy, not bureaucratic diktat.
Come and help build the future
If you are twenty five years old or younger and want to play a part in creating the sort of Europe you believe offers a brighter future please join our youth group.
We need young people to organise, and take part in, events aimed at spreading the word to their own generation. Whether it be discos or discussion groups the best people to run them are those of the generation whose future is at stake.
All over Europe, young people are realising that politicians are signing away their control over their own future. Join us and get involved in their international events, at European counter summits, during referendum campaigns or simply when they get together to prove that they support the vision of a free, democratic Europe.
The future does not belong to the cynical politicians who have dominated European politics since the Second World War, but to those who are coming to maturity in the twenty first century.
The European Union is an outdated concept, born of the discredited ideas
of the last century.
It has nothing to offer the young people of the future
Join the youth section of the Campaign for an Independent Britain and help us make a better future