Dutch parties call for another Euro-referendum - Dan HANNAN MEP - Telegraph - 03-Nov-2010

Dutch parties call for another Euro-referendum - Dan HANNAN MEP - Telegraph - 03-Nov-2010

Dutch parties call for another Euro-referendum

Consult the people? Whatever next?

So inured are we to the absence of democracy in the EU, so habituated to our powerlessness, that we barely reacted when European leaders explicitly announced that their objective, in amending the treaties as Angela Merkel wants, was to avoid a referendum. Everyone understands that ballots on the EU tend to produce “No” votes. Eurocrats barely bother to pretend any more that they enjoy popular support.

So you can imagine the agitation in Brussels at the prospect of a second Euro-referendum in the Netherlands – a proposal now supported by the Freedom Party (PVV) as well as the Socialist Party (hat-tip, EU Observer). Dutch voters want a say on the massive liabilities being imposed on them by the euro crisis. Having been net beneficiaries of EU spending until the mid-1990s, they are now, in per capita terms, among the main contributors.

Most Dutch leaders regard the prospect of consulting the electorate with horror. Like their counterparts elsewhere in the EU, they tend to see themselves as qualified to rule by their expertise rather than by the ballot box. The Anglo-Dutch writer Ian Buruma calls the Dutch elites the “regenten”, after the fastidious oligarchs who controlled the republic until the late eighteenth century.

Eurocrats, too, are determined to avoid another Dutch plebiscite. They remember that the level-headed Hollanders rejected the European Constitution by a whopping 62 per cent. (Needless to say, Brussels disregarded that vote and went ahead anyway on the basis of what I call the EU’s Brechtian imperative: “Wouldn’t it be easier to dissolve the people and elect another in their place?”) If the Dutch were allowed a vote, several of their neighbours might become restive. British voters might ask why the Netherlands should be allowed to vote on Britain’s future.

Sooner or later, there will have to be an EU plebiscite in this country. I hope that our political leaders will anticipate the demand: they would be handsomely rewarded. Incidentally, several of my readers keep asking me how many people have signed The Pledge, which demands such a vote. Over 30,000 so far.

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* TELEGRAPH - 11-Sep-2010 - Dan HANNAN - "that’s a 59-41 per cent “No” vote"

* TELEGRAPH - 11-Sep-2010 - Dan HANNAN - "that’s a 59-41 per cent “No” vote"

New YouGov poll: Britain would vote by 47 per cent to 33 to leave the EU

Exclude the “Don’t knows” and that’s a 59-41 per cent “No” vote. Euroscepticism is especially strong among women, Conservatives and non-Londoners (see here for poll details).

Yet this opinion finds almost no echo in Parliament. Only two-and-a-half per cent of of MPs are declared opponents of EU membership; if you exclude Northern Ireland MPs, the figure drops to below one per cent.

All the more reason, then, to demand the referendum we have been repeatedly promised by all parties. Please go to EUReferendumCampaign.com and sign The Pledge.

Related articles

• EU Referendum pledge (tfa.net)
• New YouGov poll: Britain would vote by 47 per cent to 33 to leave the EU (blogs.telegraph.co.uk)
• William Hague heralds 'hardheaded' Eurosceptic policies (guardian.co.uk)
• Bad poll news for Labour and Tories on spending cuts (leftfootforward.org)
• The EU Referendum Campaign is launched (blogs.telegraph.co.uk)
• Hannan seeks 'in or out' EU vote (bbc.co.uk)

*** The Spectator - 08-Sept2010 - "IN or OUT" referendum on Britain's EU membership

In or out?

Peter Hoskin 4:22pm

 

You've got to hand it to Dan Hannan – he knows how to make a splash. His latest initiative is a cross-party campaign for an "in or out" referendum on Britain's EU membership. You can find details in his article for the Telegraph today or, indeed, on the campaign's actual website. But the basic argument runs thus: with the AV vote next year, referendums are now hardwired into the political mainstream – so why not give us a vote on one of the biggest questions of national sovereignty that we face today? And if you agree with him on that, you can sign up here. 

Hannan is, of course, making a serious point. Europe is almost certainly one of those areas where the Westminster consensus is divorced from public opinion – and a reckoning could well be overdue. But his campaign also promises to serve up a healthy dollop of political entertainment. Here, after all, is a Eurosceptic Conservative pushing for a referendum that the Europhilic Lib Dems promised in their manifesto, but which the coalition has now made an improbability. Stir in the Tories who will be sympathetic to Hannan's cause, and it could turn into quite a raucous affair. 

The question is whether Hannan will get anywhere with this. Putting aside the views of the public and of the government for now, his campaign faces two particular disadvantages. First, it could get submerged by the No and Yes campaigns circling around the AV vote. And, second, it is sometimes unclear, reading the website, whether it is just a campaign for a In/Out referendum, or whether it is a campaign to take us out of Europe altogether. This confusion may be understandable – but it could alienate those who would like a referendum but would vote for us to stay in the union. I mean, things could get really confusing should a pro-Europe, pro-referendum campaign decide to tap-dance onto the stage. 

In the meantime, though, I leave CoffeeHousers with two questions. Referendum: yes or no? And Europe: in or out? The comments section awaits. 

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