A Welshman in Milano: New British Members of the EU Parliament.

giovedì, giugno 24, 2004

New British Members of the EU Parliament.

It is always interesting to see how the British press handle the reporting of European Issues. The latest issue that should be of some interest and concern to Britain is the arrival in Brussels of the 12-strong contingent representing the UKIP party. You will recall that the UKIP are campaigning for the complete withdrawl of the UK from the EU. That is ALL they are campaigning for - nothing positive at all - to call then xenophobic would be to do an injustice to xenophobes around the world.

The only newspapers that had reference to the story were the Guardian and .... well, that was it. The Guardian. Not in the Telegraph, the Times, the Mail, the Express, the FT, the Daily Mirror, the Sun - not even the Independent carried the story. Of course, the BBC reported the issue but not ITN.

My feeling is that it reflects only too clearly the general apathy of the British people toward Europe and the EU - or do I mean that it causes it? Surely, the ordinary person in the UK only know what they are told in their newspaper or TV News Programme of choice? Despite vigourously claiming to 'know' that the EU is a drain of the Great British resource, it is barely ever mentioned that the membership of the UK in the EU is a Great British resource, after all.

Now we have 12 British MEP's, whose avowed intention is to " fight for an 'amicable divorce' from the European Union" despite their new membership of the EU parliament to which they have been elected - and from whom they now all draw a high salary, generous expenses and (something not mentioned in any of the news stories) an excellent pension. Maybe it's the pension rights they have acquired that has made Kilroy-Silk rethink his initial threat to "Wreck" the EU Parliament as soon as he took his seat.

I will leave the last word to Graham Watson, leader of the Lib Dem MEPs, who described the UKIP contingent as "12 angry Victor Meldrews". He went on to say, "With their ill-informed prejudices and their petty parochialism, they don't look or sound like the Britain I know". Bravo.