NIRJ JOSEPH DEVA DL FRSA MEP
Member of the European Parliament for the South East of England
Spokesman for Overseas Development and Co-operation Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee

The new EU Commission:

Dear Friends,

For or Against? A Dilemma.

As most of you will know, there was a major confrontation between the Parliament and the Commission at our October parliamentary session in Strasbourg when, for the first time in its history the Parliament indicated that it would refuse to "rubber stamp" all the nominations of the national governments for the new European Commission. The result was that the incoming President of the Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso withdrew all the names of the proposed new Commissioners.

The immediate cause of the stand-off was the controversial opinion of the then Italian Commissioner-designate Rocco Buttiglione on homosexuality and the role of women. The Italians have now withdrawn his name and have substituted their Finance Minister, Franco Frattini. The Hungarian nominee, a former Communist, Laszlo Kovacs was also moved from the Energy portfolio to take care of taxation issues after a committee of the Parliament judged him to be "incompetent" on the basic issues relating to that portfolio.

Pardon me for questioning the will of the Hungarian government, as well as the intelligence of Mr Kovacs, but it rings more than a couple of alarm bells in my mind that a man judged unfit to deal with the Energy portfolio would now have his hands on our wallets, as opposed to the nuclear power stations - an equally appalling prospect for us!

Mr Barroso now thinks he is back on track, and will present his new "slate" to the Parliament at our meeting next week. But .... there are deep-seated feelings of unease which occupy the thoughts of a many MEPs as we head back to Strasbourg. Should the Parliament seek to override the wishes of Member States in their choice of Commissioners? Are the policies of the proposed new Commission in Britain's interests?

Nirj Deva is a Member of the South East Conservative MEP team. The others are Dan Hannan, James Elles and Richard Ashworth
They can all be contacted via their emails –
dhannan@europarl.eu.int, jelles@europarl.eu.int, rashworth@europarl.eu.int

Your Views

Before I cast my vote next week I want to hear your views on this important issue.

The Council of Ministers is meant to represent the views of national Governments, but often their wishes are overridden by Qualified Majority Voting. The European Parliament, with its 732 members from twenty-five member states is a supranational force, but all the members of the Commission are nominated by their own national government. Once appointed, Commissioners have to renounce their national perspective and act in the interests of the EU as they perceive them.

As you know, I am an avowed Eurosceptic who is passionate about the role of the nation state, and a Deputy Lieutenant of Her Majesty, I am profoundly uneasy about defeating the will of the United Kingdom, which I would be helping to do if I voted against the proposed Commissioners next week. I would have to vote against them all under present rules and could not pick and choose.

I am equally uncomfortable about voting to approve a new Commission whose members would seek to erode even further the sovereign powers of the British people. In my view the Commission should:

Stop trying to abolish the British rebate secured by Margaret Thatcher, which has saved the United Kingdom more than £20bn. since 1984.
Stop using EU taxpayers' money to sell the " European Constitution" and other federalist policies, to the people of EU member states.
Agree to accept as final and with no negative recourse, the results of referenda in member states endorsing or rejecting new EU initiatives.
Repatriate aspects of International Development Policy best carried out by member states, and agree to radical reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, - removing the huge subsides which are responsible for 50% of European Union spending - in favour of expanding free trade to the developing world.
Agree to repatriation of the Common Fisheries Policy which has ruined Britain´s fishing industry.
Stop trying to create a European Army and affirm the commitment of the European Union to NATO as the only sure way to defend ourselves against major threats, and as the framework within which defence policies are made.
Agree that the Commission's monopoly on new legislation should be removed in favour of a shared process with national Governments.
Propose a thorough review of the European Treaties to ensure that that all action which would be more effectively taken on a national basis is returned to member states ( This is known as "subsidiarity").
Commit itself to reduce bureaucracy and regulation; with a target to abolish 25% of all existing EU legislation by the end of the Commission's term of office, as well as applying "sunset clauses" to all new legislation to ensure vitality and relevance of legislation.
Reduce the 2.5% of national GDP contribution to the EU Budget and ensure the highest standards of accounting practice and transparency

As the proposed new Commission is unlikely to agree to the above, I would have difficulty in endorsing them with my vote on your behalf. However, if I voted against, I would be seeking to defeat the right of national governments to nominate their own Commissioners, and risk Mr. Barroso - who is not a Socialist - resigning. We could then be faced with a new Socialist Candidate and a new left-wing Commission.

I therefore propose to ABSTAIN.

Please let me know what you think before Wednesday the 17th of Nov.

With many thanks

As ever

Nirj