European Union: reject undemocratic, centralised law-making in Europe. Respect democracy & Europe's diversity



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Latest postings: 10 June: Shadow-boxing over constitutional reform 8 June: People have spoken - now it's 'do or die' for Brown 7 June: Brown must act on 'less EU' election verdict at summit Brown must act on 'less EU' election verdict 7 June 2009: updated 8 June 2009 The European Parliament election has been won overwhelmingly by the 'less EU' parties of varying degrees. The Conservatives, UKIP, Greens, Libertas, the trade union-backed No2EU and many other smaller parties. They all think, at least, that the transfer of decision-making to the EU has gone too far and that radical restructuring of the EU and our relationship with it is needed. They all oppose the Lisbon Treaty and support a referendum. The implications of how the votes have been shared out between the parties - if any of substance - can be debated later. What matters is how Gordon Brown and the government will respond to the overall message. It matters to us, but most of all it matters for Brown himself. Because at this highly sensitive time for faith our political system, people are desperate for evidence that our leaders are listening. And in just 10 days time Gordon Brown will have a clear opportunity on a grand stage to show that he has heard us speak. The only appropriate response to this election result is for Gordon Brown to go to the next meeting of the European Council on 18-19 June and rescind Britain's ratification of the Lisbon Treaty ... *Read more* on the DM blog New campaign: Not Liberal - Not Democrats 12 May 2009: updated 22 May 2009 See campaign photos on Flickr The DM has launched a hard-hitting new campaign to highlight the growing conflict between the Liberal Democrats' claimed values and their enthusiasm for handing ever more decision-making to the EU. The campaign has started in the run up to the European Parliament elections on 4th June but will continue right through until the next general election, which is expected within 12 months. In particular, the campaign has been launched in defence of Ireland's democratic 'No' vote to the Lisbon Treaty. Leading Lib Dem MEP Graham Watson has has pledged to use taxpayers' money he and his colleagues will receive from the European Parliament to help fund a major 'Yes' to Lisbon campaign in the outrageous repeat referendum Ireland is being pressured to stage later this year. The pledge makes a vote for the Lib Dems on 4th June a vote to disregard the previous referendum result and to bully the Irish people into reversing their clear 'No' verdict. But the DM's new campaign follows a succession of affronts to democracy and civil liberties committed by the Liberal Democrats, caused by their enthusiasm for handing ever more decision-making to the EU. They amount to a stark conflict between the party's claimed values and actions that can no longer be allowed to pass unnoticed. Not only did they vote to approve the highly illiberal and anti-democratic Lisbon Treaty, but at every stage of the treaty's progress through Parliament the Lib Dems did what it took - abstaining in the Commons and voting against in the Lords - to prevent us being given the EU referendum they promised us at the last general election. That's why the campaign has been called Not Liberal - Not Democrats. Powers the Lib Dems approved handing to the EU have resulted in: the EU Arrest Warrant, which allows British citizens to be taken to face trial in another EU member country without evidence of a crime having to be presented in court - over-riding a fundamental legal safeguard of individual liberty called Habeas Corpus; increased "operational" powers for the growing EU police force Europol which, unlike our national police, has immunity from criminal prosecution (Statutory Instrument 1997 No.2973); the EU's so-called Charter of Fundamental Rights, which includes a clause (Article 52) allowing "limitations" of basic rights if deemed in the "general interest" of the EU; powers for the the EU to make laws in relation to ID cards (Article 77-3); intrusive internet and email monitoring such as the EU communications data retention directive (2006/24/EC), which requires the storage of data relating to every email we send and every website we visit. Having approved treaties handing the EU powers to make such laws, the Lib Dems then posture in opposition when the inevitably authoritarian implications become known. Yet once EU laws are made they cannot be blocked by national Parliaments. A giant mobile poster bearing the campaign slogan (pictured above) is set to be deployed to rove Graham Watson's South West euro constituency, among other places, including the marginal seats of the party's Westminster MPs who refused to support the EU referendum they promised local voters. The roadshow will be accompanied by a targetted local leafleting and letter-writing campaign by DM activists, and many other activities. Thousands of campaign leaflets are already being independently distributed in Liverpool, Totnes, Aylesbury, Welwyn Garden City, Bakewell, Stanford le Hope, Richmond-upon-Thames, Folkestone, Tunbridge Wells, Norwich, Bournemouth, Maidenhead, Havant ... with more locations being added to the list daily. read more about the campaign on the DM blog view the new Not Liberal - Not Democrats leaflet (pdf) order copies of the campaign leaflet visit the campaign's group on Facebook view campaign photos on Flickr The Democracy Movement is a non-party pressure group to defend liberal democracy in Britain and across Europe. We believe that this is being fundamentally undermined by the single currency, the proposed EU Constitution, and the drive to create a Brussels-based system of government in which all major decisions are taken at the EU centre by undemocratic institutions. *We are pro-European:* because of our committment to diversity, democracy and decentralisation in our continent, we consider ourselves to be the real pro-Europeans in this debate; *We are internationalist:* because we emphatically reject not only the 'little Englander' but also the 'little European' mindset that currently predominates in Brussels; *Our long-term objective:* is of a *Europe of Democracies* that trade together, enjoy cultural exchange with each other, and co-operate voluntarily where it makes sense to do so. These are very different aims to the out-dated centralism and state-building ambitions driving today's EU. *What we do:* as a non-party group we bring together people in all parties and none who share our beliefs into a large network of supporters and volunteer-run branches. Our main activities are at the grass-roots, working to spread our ideas and direct pressure for change on political decision-makers. click here to read our *Statement of Principles* in full Break Free: from the outdated EU 21 October 2008 The DM has scored a resounding victory in the Luton EU referendum. After a head-to-head battle with the European Movement, filmed for ITV's Tonight programme, 63% voted 'No' to the Lisbon Treaty and a ground-breaking 54% voted to come out of the EU altogether. The programme documenting the event was shown on ITV1 this evening and is typically watched by between 3 and 6 million viewers. The result reflects major disatisfaction not just with the prospect of further decision-making being passed to the EU but also with the extent of the EU's current powers, its financial costs and the damaging effects of its activities. Click here for the full results and more about the Luton referendum campaign on the DM blog. Click here for more about our Break Free campaign. The Luton EU Referendum 2008 19 October 2008 ITV's Tonight programme is staging an EU referendum in Luton. *The edition of the programme about the referendum, EU Decide, will be shown at 8pm, Monday 20 October.* Three thousand Luton residents have been given the chance to vote 'Yes' or 'No' to the Lisbon Treaty, and whether to stay in or come out of the EU. See a video clip of the launch of campaigning on ITV's Anglia News. The Democracy Movement is leading the 'No' side and supporting DM activists on the campaign trail have been the Labour MP for Luton North, Kelvin Hopkins, together with Thomas Rupp and Gayle Kinkead from the European Referendum Campaign. Music producer and Pop Idol judge Pete Waterman has also pledged his support for a 'No' vote, as has Bob Crow - RMT union leader and chair of Trade Unionists Against the EU Constitution. We're making the case that: The EU costs Luton. Britain pays far more to the EU than we get back - £6 billion more every year, from 2007, equivalent to £115 million every single week. This means that for any money a Luton project receives from the EU, our government has sent more than twice that amount to the EU in the first place. It's ridiculous for the 'Yes' lobby to claim that paying ten pounds to be given back less than a fiver is a 'good deal' we should be grateful for. The EU loses so much public money in fraud and mismanagement that its auditors have refused to approve the "majority" of its spending for what looks set to be 14 years in a row. Despite this, the government recently agreed to increase the amount we hand the EU by more than 60%. Only a 'No' vote will send the strong message that the scandal of this huge waste of public money has to stop. Support greater investment in local public services, not waste on the EU. Click here to read more about the recent EU budget deal. The Lisbon Treaty is about centralising even more important decisions in unelected Brussels institutions. The treaty will mean ... ... more interference by the EU in how we manage big issues like our energy supplies, National Health Service, criminal justice, sport, transport and much more. EU interference typically places heavy burdens on job-creating businesses and often has disastrous side-effects. This has been seen over EU laws on postal services and chemicals, action on high mobile phone charges for holiday-makers causing call charge hikes for pay-as-you-go users, and in how the EU-managed Common Fisheries Policy has decimated Europe's fishing resources and is causing an environmental disaster. ... a significant loss of influence over new EU laws due to increased majority voting in the Council of Ministers and a 30% cut in our ability to block EU laws we disagree with; ... the EU becoming more like a country in its own right with the creation of a full-time 'President of Europe' and foreign minister; ... more powers for the EU's embryonic police force Europol, including to 'implement' operational action. Europol will retain its immunity from criminal prosecution. Yet the Lisbon Treaty will do nothing to reform the EU's failing environmental policies, won't solve widespread waste and corruption and doesn't make the EU more democratic. Vote 'No' to say you want a better deal. Click *here* to read more about the Lisbon Treaty and its "substantially equivalent" predecessor - the EU Constitution. There is a better way. Trade and co-operation between European countries is perfectly possible without having to pass ever more decisions over our lives to remote EU institutions in Brussels. Trade between countries existed long before the EU and the idea that we would "say goodbye" to trade if the EU did not exist is irresponsible scare-mongering. Countries that have decided not to join the EU like Norway, Switzerland and Iceland successfully trade and co-operate with those countries that are EU members. More importantly, they can look beyond the EU to greater opportunities worldwide. Britain needs to co-operate with countries right around the world to solve common problems to do with the environment, the economy and the fight against crime. To do this successfully, we must first prevent ever more decision-making being centralised in Brussels. Click here to read more about our Vision Europe. MPs reject a referendum on the re-named EU Constitution Treaty 5 March 2008: updated 6 March 2008 A majority of MPs voted yesterday evening against a referendum on the re-named EU Constitution Treaty, despite having promised one at the last election. A Conservative amendment for a referendum was defeated by a majority of 63 votes - 311 votes to 248. A second referendum amendment, put down by rebel Labour MPs, was defeated by a majority of 64 votes. Click here and enter your postcode on our dedicated ReferendumList website to find out whether your MP voted for or against a referendum. The way that this treaty has been forced through Parliament lacks all legitimacy. Government promises of a public vote, of 'line-by-line scrutiny' and then of plentiful time to debate the treaty have all been broken. Large swathes of vital powers the treaty gifts to remote EU institutions - such as in defence, borders, future treaty revision and voting weights - have been blocked from Parliamentary debate. The verdict of the cross-party House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee that the Treaty is "substantially equivalent" to the EU Constitution has also been completely ignored by the Government and large numbers of MPs. Most serious of all, various polls show that the Government has utterly failed to convince the public that the Lisbon Treaty is not the EU Constitution re-named, yet have still refused to honour their clear manifesto promise of a public vote. In the vote, the bulk of the Conservatives were supported by 29 Labour MPs, 15 Liberal Democrats, the Scottish and Welsh nationalist parties and some independents. But this was not enough to overcome the Government's majority. A breakdown of how those referendum rebels we had identified actually behaved during the vote is as follows: - of the 29 Labour MPs we had recorded as supporting a referendum, three did not vote and three voted against a referendum. One who voted against actually supported a referendum amendment at the Second Reading of the treaty Bill, and voted against its Second Reading, so his switch is inexplicable. The remaining two who voted against a referendum have evidently been writing misleading letters to their constituents stating that they would support a public vote. Six additional Labour MPs voted in support of a referendum. - of the 10 Lib Dem MPs we had recorded as supporting a referendum, one abstained and one did not vote. An additional seven voted in support of a treaty referendum, totalling fifteen rebels against Nick Clegg's policy. The Democracy Movement has responded to the vote by announcing the launch of an 'Integrity Fund' to finance local campaigning in marginal constituencies between now and the next general election, which could now be just over a year away. The fund will target MPs of all parties who have voted against the referendum they promised at the last election, and will finance the distribution of thousands of leaflets, advertising and other campaign activities in each target constituency. Funds have already been pledged to cover more than a dozen constituencies. Democracy Movement director Stuart Coster said: "Those MPs who hoped this issue would go away once they had voted contrary to their election promises have made a huge miscalculation. "On the basis of how MPs have voted on a Treaty referendum relative to their election promises, between now and the next general election we intend to ensure local voters know who they can and cannot trust." After the remaining stages in the Commons, the Bill ratifying the Lisbon Treaty will move to the House of Lords where there will be further debates about a referendum. If the Lords pass a referendum amendment, the issue could be put to the vote once again in the Commons. The matter of this treaty and broken promises of a referendum is very far from over. Break Free: from the outdated EU 20 October 2008 Featuring a picture on the front of jubiliant 'No' campaigners after Ireland's recent Lisbon Treaty referendum, this new campaign leaflet leads with the question; What part of 'No' doesn't the EU understand? The French and Dutch peoples also rejected the "substantially equivalent" EU Constitution in referendums and polls show a large majority of the British people would have too. Had our government and the Liberal Democrats kept their election promises to hold a public vote. Yet the European Union is still trying to side-step the people's verdict and transform itself into your government. The Lisbon Treaty and the reaction to the Irish 'No' vote show that EU is stuck in the past and incapable of reform, even when people overwhelmingly reject centralising more decision-making in its undemocratic institutions. The Break Free campaign sets out the main failings of today's EU, together with the benefits of major change. Its main theme is that it's time for Europe's leaders to drop the top-down EU state idea and to instead spend their time addressing today's challenges - rather than planning how to centralise ever more power in Brussels without democratic consent. Request campaign materials The Democracy Movement publishes a range of campaign materials, available free of charge to all those who would like to help our campaign. Click here to view our range and to order your copies. We've teamed up with the June Press to bring you a range of the best books on the European Union issue. Click here to view our stock. Democracy Movement 72 Hammersmith Road, London W14 8TH T: 020 7603 7796 F: 020 7602 9699

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