Home What's New Speeches & Articles Newsletter - Jul 2008 Biography Diary Contact Information Photo Album Parliamentary Highlights Publications Links MEPs' Transparency   Conservative Party Latest News from Conservatives.com Conservative Party Website
		Consequences of Constitution NO Votes - Your Democratic Obligations Thursday 23rd June 2005 Text of letter to EU Council President Jean-Claude Juncker and Commission President José Manuel Barroso We all know that the EU Constitution has been rejected by two of the founding members, France and the Netherlands, and in accordance with its own terms it cannot come into effect. But a series of projects have been commenced which would have depended on the ratification of the Constitution for their democratic legitimacy and legal base. These projects include the creation of the offices of European president and foreign minister (already confirmed as Javier Solana of Spain), a European public prosecutor, a European External Action Service (diplomatic service), a European space policy (on which officials concluded an agreement on implementation after the Constitution was rejected), a European Defence Agency and Rapid Reaction Force (armed forces), a European Fundamental Rights Agency (to implement the Charter of Fundamental Rights which now has no legal basis), a European police force, and a European asylum and immigration policy, to name but a few. At the same time a number of EU leaders, including not least Jack Straw, Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom (which assumes the EU Presidency during the critical period July/December 2005) have referred to the possibility that elements of the Constitution may be introduced under the existing treaties. Given that the fundamental message from the voters of France and the Netherlands was to deny power to those who cannot be held to account, it is clear that the leadership of the European Union now has a democratic obligation to take two immediate and crucial steps. First, to wind up and abandon those projects which pre-empted the Constitution, and which now have no legal basis and no realistic prospect of gaining it. Secondly, to give an undertaking to the peoples of Europe that no attempt will be made by the Council or the Commission to implement any part of the Constitution in the absence of ratification, and that you will resist any moves by other EU institutions and member states to implement parts of the Constitution in a piecemeal fashion, or by stealth. I write as an elected representative of European citizens. I have a duty to my constituents to ensure that the proposed Constitution, which has been resoundingly rejected by its own terms, is not forced through against the will of the people. I should be glad to receive your assurances on these critical points. Yours faithfully Roger Helmer