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LOCAL
ELECTIONS
Congratulations
and thanks to all Party members who worked so hard to make the local
elections a great success.
Across
the country we took the biggest share of the vote and in our Region, we
gained control of King's Lynn and West Norfolk, Mid Suffolk, St Edmundsbury,
Basildon, Chelmsford and Dacorum Councils.
I
am confident that we will continue to work hard and achieve the largest
share of the vote again next year in the Euro elections.
THE
EUROPEAN CONVENTION
The
Convention drafting a European Constitution is due to report in the next few
weeks. The document promises to be a devastating indictment of a federalist
dream, which will take precedent over all the lawmaking bodies of the member
states of the EU. Our sovereignty and very independence are threatened - and
the British government seems totally indifferent.
While
France, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Austria will allow
their people to decide in a referendum whether to ratify the document, the
British will have no say. The Government will force it through Parliament
and the most fundamental change for centuries in the way we are governed
will be imposed on us. While there is frustration among the public at the
huge democratic gap throughout the European Union - my postbag reflects this
every day - the proposed constitution will make matters much worse.
The
European Council of Heads of Member States at Laeken in December 2001, set
up the Convention on the Future of the European Union to initiate and
sustain public debate on the future
of
Europe. Its task is to suggest a planned reform of the European Union
institutions to prepare for EU enlargement from its current 15 to 25 Member
States in June 2004.
Chaired
by former French President, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the Convention
comprises 105 representatives, including 16 members of the European
Parliament, members of parliaments from accession countries and 2 delegates
and 1 government minister from each of the 28 European nations, including 3
countries likely to join in 2007. The Convention seeks public consultation
and can be accessed on the internet (www.europa.eu.int/futurum).
What
is the outcome so far?
1.
The EU will be a single legal entity incorporating all EU institutions and
offering Europeans EU "citizenship" as complimentary to national
citizenship allowing them to live, work and vote in local government
elections anywhere in the EU.
2.
Create a position of "President of the EU Council" - elected by
the EU Heads of State and a "President of the European Commission"
elected by the European Parliament.
3.
Create an EU Constitution to incorporate all existing Treaties that would
allow Member States to have the right to withdraw from the EU.
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It
is unacceptable if the single legal identity offers the elected President
of the Council supranational power to overwhelm the sovereignty of
national governments. Foreign & defence policy, taxation and home
affairs must remain firmly in the control of our own Parliament.
Furthermore, we should retain our seat at the UN Security Council and our
individual membership of NATO.
However,
I believe it is the democratically elected European Parliament, not the
Commission, which must initiate, draft and approve legislation. The
Commission must relinquish its political powers and act as a civil
service, subservient to the European Parliament and EU citizens.
It
is member states that must comply with the rules of a single, free, open
and competitive internal market for goods, labour and services, including
financial services. And it is national parliaments that must have more
powers to scrutinise EU institutions.
EU
CHEMICALS POLICY
The
European Commission has announced proposals to oblige producers to test
almost all chemicals currently circulating within the EU.
Thousands
of chemicals from those used in everything from fertilisers to cosmetics,
such as talcum powder and toothpaste, have all been tested before. There
is little point in testing them again as the best test for toxicity is
that they have been in use for all these years.
The
environmentalists are imposing unnecessary costs on businesses which will
make EU chemicals manufacturing uncompetitive in the global market.
With
estimations that this policy could cost the industry over £1 billion a
year to implement and with fears that thousands of British jobs will be
lost, these proposals are a bureaucratic nonsense that should be thrown
out immediately.
Please email us at: bkhanbhai@europarl.eu.int
and register to receive my “In Touch” and other news.
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