By Lawrence Fullick
Published in The Tablet, 18 June 2005
Sir Stephen Wall’s view of the European Union after the French and Dutch referendums (The Tablet, 11 June) states some sensible precepts for the Union to steer by in the future.
However, he omits the need for democratically given consent to policy decisions. Some may feel that the present indirect chain of democratic control from people to national parliaments to national governments to ministers sitting together in EU Council meetings is adequate. I suggest that this is far too tenuous a command chain. On the few matters that need to be decided at EU level, the chain of control should be people to European Parliament to European Council and Commission.
Such a change would help to develop a Europe-wide demos without which the project will fail.
Lawrence Fullick