Home What's New Speeches & Articles Newsletter - Sep 2008 Biography Diary Contact Information Photo Album Parliamentary Highlights Publications Links MEPs' Transparency   Conservative Party Latest News from Conservatives.com Conservative Party Website
		The European Citizenship Programme Plenary Speech - Tuesday 24th October 2006 Mr. President Our sense of citizenship, like our sense of identity, arises from our history, our culture, our language and our experience of life. It comes from the bottom up. This citizenship programme is top-down. It seeks to create a sense of citizenship where none exists. As such, it is doomed to fail and it is wholly improper. I was born a British citizen. I never asked to be a European citizen. I do not want European citizenship and I totally reject and repudiate it. The European Constitution, which incorporates the concept of EU citizenship, has been roundly rejected in France and Holland, and it would be rejected if it were voted on in the United Kingdom. The promotion of this failed concept is therefore highly contentious. We are using taxpayers’ money to promote one side of a hotly disputed debate, and that is wrong, undemocratic and disgraceful. I call on colleagues to reject this report out of hand. I was immediately followed by my colleague Chris Beazley MEP, who told us what wonderful things the citizenship, and the propaganda, were. I have published his words below. The Party is, after all, a broad church. Mr President It is a very important achievement to have a common position adopted by the Council on this ‘Europe for Citizens’ programme and I congratulate the rapporteur, Mr Takkula, on his work and dedication and, in particular, for improving the scope of the programme. I want to dwell on two aspects of the programme: town twinning and the memorials to the victims of the twin dictatorships of Hitler and Stalin. I would urge Commissioner Figel to coordinate his work with that of his colleague, Commissioner Wallström, who is responsible for information and public relations, in order to maximise the impact of this extremely important report and programme. Firstly, on the town-twinning movement, I could not disagree more with the previous speaker. In my own country there are town-twinning associations which have existed for 50 years and others which have been newly founded. I wish that the Commissioners – because they are the only people who can do it – would give fair, free and open publicity to the dedication and voluntary work of these organisations. To hear in my own county town of Hertford, the German, French, British and European anthems sung by local citizens and by school children was infinitely more eloquent than the absurd anti-European propaganda that we are given to digest in much of our popular press. We are in a battle for the hearts and minds of public opinion and we cannot allow the sceptics simply to have the best tunes. We have got the best tune, but we have to proclaim it. Secondly, on the memorials, I am delighted that Mr Takkula has included the victims of Stalinist crimes, because half our European Union was subject to that dictatorship, and just imagine the disbelief of new citizens of the European Union that their suffering should be neglected, whereas those who suffered from Hitler’s Third Reich should be commemorated. Therefore, I commend this report and this programme to Parliament and the entire European Union and let us hope that this time we win the argument.