Posted on 06/03/2004 7:12:05 PM PDT by ellery
The Dutch government has called for a major return of powers from Brussels to the nation states, saying that integration has gone too far and lacks popular consent.
It said it was time to consider taking back control of health, culture, social policy, aid to poor regions and the subsidy regime of the Common Agricultural Policy.
The new Dutch-first aims were laid out by Bernard Bot, the foreign minister, in a landmark speech in Berlin on Wednesday night.
It was being compared by the Dutch press yesterday to Margaret Thatcher's Bruges speech in 1988 and marks a dramatic departure for a founding member of the EU that could once be counted on to back every push for closer union.
While Mr Bot endorsed the overall idea of European federalism, he put forward a list of concrete national demands that go further than those suggested by Michael Howard, the Tory leader.
Calling on the EU to learn self-restraint, he said it was time to stop shoving fresh treaties down the throats of citizens every couple of years.
"We must realise that there are limits to the degree of integration that Europeans can digest," he said. "People must be given a chance to adjust.
"There is a widespread sense of unease about Europe, about loss of national identity, and about an EU that increasingly intrudes into their everyday lives.
"The European Union is, after all, a union of member states. That is something we should never forget."
He said that "patronising" Eurocrats were pushing through idiotic regulations "such as telling window cleaners how to hold ladders". By doing so they were "creating a culture of tolerance for rule-breaking" by forcing local authorities to defy the law.
Mr Bot is no firebrand populist. He has been toiling in the EU vineyards for almost 40 years, serving as head of the Dutch delegation in Brussels for a decade before becoming foreign minister for the Christian Democrats, the most pro-European party in the Netherlands.
Answering questions in Berlin, he said it was "ludicrous" that the EU was now deciding how many beds there should be in a hospital room.
He said that such meddling reflexes would stretch the European project to snapping point.
"Is Europe really the best level at which to regulate landscape gardening?" he asked.
A senior Dutch official said the speech was intended to be a warning to a high-handed elite in Brussels that appeared to have lost touch with reality.
"There are some very British elements in this speech," he said. "The feeling is that we risk a popular revolt unless the citizens start to feel represented."
The mood in the Netherlands has soured since Pim Fortuyn, the late homosexual maverick, burst on to the political scene two years ago, launching virulent attacks on Brussels, Muslim imams and the bloated welfare state. He was shot dead by an animal rights activist.
Mr Bot said he supported the new European constitution, believing that it made "the locus of power more visible" in the system and gave EU citizens a greater say over the institutions.
At the same time, the Netherlands has imposed its own red line by threatening to block the treaty this month unless member states retain their veto over the budget.
The Netherlands is the biggest net contributor per capita to the EU budget, but does not receive a British-style rebate.
It is expected to hold a referendum on the text, which could lead to an upset no vote.
In a caustic aside, Mr Bot mocked the "arrogance" of states "such as France" which threatened to expel those countries that rejected the constitution after a popular vote without daring to put the text to their own people.
Jacques Chirac, the French president, has resiled from earlier support for the idea of a referendum, chiefly because the opinion polls suggest he might lose it.
Bump; ping.
Answer to the Dutch from the EU: Too late, you already lost the war!
The EU is already Euronating on itself..
LOL!
Huh?? France "arrogant"??
The Dutch are just now figuring all this out?
...and so it begins...or 'bout time Holland!
To Knighthawk....Groetjes uit Chicago.
I'd be very cautious if I were Dutch...
Jefferson Davis put forth the same arguement in 1860,
and look what happened.
france seems to be getting slapped in the face from all sides.
Why am I not surprised that socialism doesn't work?
idiotic regulations "such as telling window cleaners how to hold ladders".
he said it was "ludicrous" that the EU was now deciding how many beds there should be in a hospital room.
"Is Europe really the best level at which to regulate landscape gardening?" he asked.
This little bit of totalitarianism bothers him? Just wait until the rightful ruler of Europe, France, crowns itself and really takes over!
Here's hoping they kept their powder dry.
Good work, Bot!
Makes ya wish they would notice that. I hope Bush isn't too nice to Jacques, ah to be a fly on that wall! LOL!
I love it when the wheels come off.
Wherever they go, leftist bureacrats spread joy!
The world would be so much better off if the DC and Brussels control freaks could be sent to their own island nation to run as they see fit. I would suggest Cuba, but I like Cubans. I would suggest the Galapagos Islands, but I wouldn't want to piss off the Komodo Dragons. I hear Devil's Island, is available. Or maybe they could rule Antartica.
If the Euros are worried about which level of government will tell them how to hold their ladders, how many beds should be in a hospital room or how straight their bananas should be then they are already slaves. They are just arguing about which master owns them.
Can I get a big:DUH! what did they think was going to happen, it's only just begun.
What fools the sophisticated can become, delicious! LOL!!!!!
France is playing a great shell game -- most don't know that there are no peas under any of their cups, yet they continue to hold sway.
France my butt. The Dutch can handle the French. What the Dutch don't want is to be over-run yet one more time by the Germans.
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