Britse tegencampagne wil niet dat krenten uit de Grondwetpap worden gered (en)

EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - The extraordinary victories in France and the Netherlands, in countries which the EU elite arrogantly assumed would endorse this latest attempted power grab by large majorities, demonstrate that ordinary Europeans want decisions concerning their lives to be taken closer to them.

These results - particularly the diversity of reasons for rejecting the Constitution - have exposed the fundamental flaw at the heart of the EU project. Namely, that single EU policies simply cannot suit the different needs of Europe's diverse countries and peoples.

Outdated superstate dogma

Europe's political elite must now listen, and stop trying to squeeze a diverse Europe into a single political and economic straitjacket in pursuit of outdated superstate dogma dreamed up in the 1950s.

This double victory for democracy demonstrates what the Democracy Movement has always argued: that the struggle against the centralisation of power in Brussels not only transcends left and right, but is an objective shared by ordinary people of all nations.

Implementing any part of the EU Constitution despite the French and Dutch rejections, and denying us our chance to have a say, would be a blatant affront to democracy. The government must now guarantee that there will be no 'cherry-picking' of parts of the Constitution to avoid a public vote.

Next step

While it's unlikely that Europe's political elite will heed the people's message and immediately give up their outdated goal of a centralised EU state, what their next step towards this aim will be is the key question.

What they don't yet fully realise is that the debate has now rapidly moved on to what form of European co-operation the people of Europe actually want instead of the misguided Constitution idea the elites came up with.

More flexibility

These results show that top of the people's wish list is an end to the EU centralisation project and one-size-fits-all EU policies, decided by majority vote on an ever-wider range of issues.

Instead, people clearly want a new, decentralised form of European co-operation to allow a great deal more flexibility and respect for different national priorities.

It's time for Europe's leaders to listen: drop the outdated superstate dogma and start acting on what these results show that people want.

Marc Glendening is campaign director of Democracy Movement, a UK based non-party grass-roots campaign against the EU Constitution