Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

hug a Pole week

If at all possible, find a Pole this week and hug him. Get down to Gdynia Way and plant flowers and hang out Polish flags (mind the traffic) in solidarity. Raise a glass to them in salute this Christmas. We owe them an enormous debt of gratitude for stopping the EU Constitution juggernaut in its tracks over the weekend.

The collapse of the EU Summit last Saturday, almost entirely eclipsed by the joyous news of Saddam’s capture, ranks as an outcome of historic proportions, thanks to the plucky resistance of our Polish allies.

Among the many undesirable provisions of the draft constitution, two in particular were absurd, namely: an EU Foreign Minister and a common defence policy. It is utterly unrealistic to imagine the disparate countries of the EU, who disagreed violently over Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Iraq, to have a common foreign policy. The defence agenda was clearly driven by anti-American sentiment in France. What madness would it be to sign up for a European defence structure outside of NATO that could easily alienate the USA from European defence just at the time that Russia is again showing the first signs of confident nationalism.

The weekend talks floundered, not on these crucial matters, but on voting rights. But whatever the reason, valuable thinking time has been bought, and for the moment the EU Constitution lies in tatters.

It will come back onto the agenda of course, those who dream of a United States of Europe will make sure of that. But its collapse at the weekend provides an opportunity to think again about the future of Europe. And for the first time in years there is a genuine chance to shape the future in a way that suits the core values and opinion of the overwhelming majority of British people.

The new countries coming in, most of them having suffered under the yoke of Soviet tyranny for so many years, are keen to support a more flexible view of Europe: as a family of sovereign states co-operating together in a free trade area, rather than inching towards a centralist superstate. The Poles, the Czechs and others have not thrown off the suffocating oppression of Moscow only to lie down in front of the Brussels steamroller.

A glimmer of hope then, to create a Europe that can work for all of us, which is why I declare this week: hug a Pole week!

posted by Nigel on Saturday, December 20, 2003