letter to the editor from Richard Corbett MEP |
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2 December 2007 |
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The Observer |
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Dear Editor, I would have expected the Observer, of all newspapers, to have presented a more balanced analysis than the hatchet job conducted by Tim Adams on the European Parliament (25th November) thereby aligning the Observer with the worst of our tabloid Eurosceptics. Tim Adams admitted that, prior to his visit to the Parliament, "I knew just about nothing". Sadly, that seems to have remained the case after his visit. The only British MEPs he quotes are two notorious Europhobes - Daniel Hannan - perhaps the most Europhobic of all Tory MEPs - and Gerard Batten from UKIP, with no attempt to balance them with anyone from the mainstream majority or even the federalists' side of the debate. The only parliamentary debates he attended were non-legislative debates - a little bit like judging the whole operation of the House of Commons on the basis of a sparsely attended adjournment debate! Indeed, it would help if Mr Adams could take the trouble to check his basic facts. MEPs do not "only have limited powers to amend or block legislation" - they can reject it outright, they can dismiss the Commission, they adopt and amend the budget and they can request legislative proposals to be drawn up. The turnout at the European elections was not 20% but 46% - more than double what he claimed. Even Britain , which traditionally has the lowest turnout, it rose from 24% to 39% last time. European Commissioners are elected by the European Parliament on the basis of nominations from elected governments. English and French are not the only official languages. I could go on - but I am in despair that even the Observer descends to the gutter when analysing Europe. Granted, the theatre and the drama of European parliamentary debates, with its multiplicity of languages, cannot match Westminster. But where the European Parliament comes into its own is in actually shaping European legislation. Unlike in Westminster , MEPs are not just lobby fodder, voting automatically one way or the other according to whether they are in government or opposition. On the contrary, they re-shape, re-write and amend the legislative proposals before them to make them workable across 27 different countries. Commission proposals hardly ever get through unamended. By contrast, in the House of Commons it was headline news when, for the first time in ten years, a Government bill was amended against the will of the Government. Of course, we could abolish the European Parliament and leave EU decision making entirely to technocrats, bureaucrats and diplomats. Perhaps this would satisfy Tim Adams and others too lazy to enquire further than their prejudices allow. Yours, Richard Corbett Labour MEP for Yorkshire & Humber The Observer printed an abridged version of this letter. Click to view. |
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