ROSS VISITS EU PARLIAMENT IN BRUSSELS
East Antrim DUP MLA Alastair Ross, along with Assembly colleagues and key environmental stakeholders this week visited the European Parliament in Brussels. During the two day visit, representatives from the European Commission briefed the group on some of the many environmental directives being passed in Brussels, as well as some of the constitutional issues that an ever expanding EU present.
Commenting, Mr Ross said,
“Whilst the main thrust of our visit was to learn more about the types of environmental decisions being made in Brussels, it was an interesting time to visit after the ‘Yes’ vote in the Irish Republic over the Lisbon Treaty.
The European Economic Community was created as an International Organisation to facilitate free trade between members, but over time it has grown and become a huge and powerful political institution which is sucking powers away from our national sovereign Parliament in Westminster.
With this new power comes the massive machinery of government, the massive buildings and the thousands and thousands of support staff. We of course, as British taxpayers, are paying for all of this, yet have no real opportunity to remove the key decision makers in Brussels.
European Commissioners, who are unelected at not accountable to the public, take decisions which impact upon us all, and European Law takes precedence over domestic law. With the passing of the Lisbon Treaty in the Irish Republic, it is even closer to being ratified across Europe, and with it the EU will become even more powerful, and the UK will lose many of the vetoes that we currently have.
That is why it is so important for people here in the United Kingdom to have their say on the Lisbon Treaty, and on our future relationship within Europe. Both Labour and the Conservative Party promised us a referendum at the last election, but the Labour Government denied us the right to speak on Europe, and the Tories now appear to be wobbling on the issue of whether they will hold a referendum, despite calls from senior MP’s and MEP’s to do just that.
The DUP has consistently said that people should be able to vote on the European Constitution / Lisbon Treaty, and up until recently the UUP held the same position. That is why our Party have again tabled a motion in the Northern Ireland Assembly calling on a referendum, even if the Lisbon Treaty has been ratified elsewhere.”
