Kirkhope: 'Europe of Results' Not the Europe of Declarations and Constitutions
Wednesday 28th March 2007
The Conservative Leader in the European Parliament, Timothy Kirkhope MEP, today told Chancellor Merkel of Germany that the European Union can only regain the initiative to be a 'force for good' in the world by becoming less an elite bureaucratic project and more an organisation which does less, but does it better.
Mr Kirkhope said:
"The European Union today is viewed as a distant bureaucracy. People see the EU as an over-regulating monster that is encroaching on too many matters that should be the preserve of the nation state. People want to see co-operation in Europe, but they do not understand why politicians in the EU and in this Parliament spend so much time on constitutional and institutional issues. It is results that matter, not the drafting of constitutions.
People ask what Europe is doing to combat global climate change, to fight the scourge of global poverty and to make our continent more competitive in the face of globalisation. They are not asking for Constitutions and Treaties. They want us to deliver on the substance, and not dwell on processes."
Rejecting the need for a new constitution, Mr Kirkhope added:
"In the 21st Century, we need more flexibility and more decentralisation to enable our economies to win in international markets. We do not need more regulation in Europe, we need less. We do not need more majority voting to fight climate change or global poverty. Rather we need more effective intergovernmental co-operation.
"Constitutions and institutions do not generate prosperity, they do not make our economies more competitive, they do not reduce C02 emissions and they do not feed hungry people in the developing world. I urge governments to respect the 'no' votes of the French and Dutch peoples, avoid a lengthy and divisive constitutional debate and get on with the job of delivering on policy substance."
ENDS
