It's the EU's way or it's the way out!

The European Union is fast becoming a haven for the undemocratic, the bureaucratically minded, and the plainly corrupt. I'm not sure which camp I put Richard Corbett, a British Labour MEP in. Probably a mixture of the first two. I'll be charitable and suggest that he's not corrupt. That's not to say that the others get off that lightly. There are plenty of corrupt characters floating around the Brussels edifice, some elected, others there by knowing which jobs get the biggest brown envelopes stuffed! Corbett is leading the European Union assembly’s political establishment in attempting to push through changes that will silence dissidents by changing the rules allowing Euro-MPs to form political groupings. Of course, their troughs will have silk rims to allow their snouts to escape unnecessary bruising when they rush to gobble up the cash savings!

Corbett’s proposals will also give the President of the Parliament sweeping powers to approve or reject parliamentary questions. A kind of censor-in-chief. The whole thing is disgraceful. Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, claimed that the move goes hand in hand with the denial of popular votes on the new EU Treaty. "Welcome to your future. This shows an EU mindset that is arrogant, anti-democratic and frankly scary,” he said. "These people are so scared of public opinion they are willing to set in stone the right to ignore it. Freedom requires the governing elite to be held to account. They must be getting very worried if they are enacting such dictatorial powers for themselves." Very worried indeed.

Democracy has never been seen as a popular vehicle for the powerful. Those that are creating this United States of Europe do so by stealth rather than open debate. They have caused democracy to be the servant of their world rather than the master. We have been foolish in allowing it to happen.