In 2004, under the Irish Presidency of the EU (a six-month rotational affair) a specially-formed Convention led by former French President Valery Giscard D'Estaing finally settled the text of the Treaty estblishing a Constitution for Europe.
This was prepared to formalise the major treaties that had led to the formation of the European Union (and its predecessor organisations), and to reform certain aspects of the EU to allow for more efficient running as the organisation expanded to 27 member states.
At this stage, I not only would have voted for this modest federal Constitution, I would have voted for a full European SuperState. I liked the idea of being a European citizen first and foremost, and with the spectre of the Iraq War still dominating politics, felt strongly that the world (and the West) needed a powerful balance to the military might of unchecked American hegemony (I was young...). That civilising force was to be the United States of Europe - they were halcyon days.
With the exception of the Brits and the Scandinavians, all countries a essentially pro-European. Europe has been massively beneficial to the economies of almost every nation-state - from Germany and France down to Malta and Greece. Being part of a single currency bloc is part-symptom part-cause of Europhilia on the continent. They feel like duel-citizens, both Spanish and European. TR Reid, an American living in London, has written an exception book called 'The United States of Europe' (written, I suspect, primarily for us Anglophones) which talks of 'Generation E - not Spanish or German, but Europeans from Toledo and Hamburg'.
So when the European Constitution was proposed to the nation states, with the stipulation (from previous treaties) that it needed to be ratified unanimously - any one nation rejecting ratification would mean it could not be brought into effect. The instruments of ratification would be decided separately by each nation state - some would simply pass a bill in Parliament, others would holding binding or non-binding referenda. The important point was that all must accede.
This had been a slight problem in the past. The Irish Constitution commands that a referendum be held on any changes, including any treaty that incorporates transfer of sovereignty. The Irish have done better than anyone out of the EU (compare Dublin 20 years ago with today) but when they voted on the Nice Treaty, they voted 'No'. Europe was horrified, and a new referendum was held to which the Irish voted 'Yes'.
This time, the major cause for concern was that the UK would reject it in the referendum begrudgingly promised by Prime Minister Tony Blair. The issue has been divisive in the UK for thirty years, and not along party lines. Labour and the Lib Dems tend to be pro-Europe, whereas the Conservatives are generally Eurosceptic, though during the Thatcher and Major years many of the senior Tories were extremely Europhile, a division which split the party for twenty years and caused more trouble than any other. The British being fairly Eurosceptic by nature ("my grandfather didn't repel the Luftwaffe just for you to let the Germans take over our country by stealth!"), there was a real risk that the promised referendum wouldn't be passed.
Instead, to everyone's surprise, it never came to a contest. The French and the Dutch let Blair off the hook by rejecting the Constitution in referenda before the British could have their say. Europe was shell-shocked that its favourite son and daughter could be so cruel. But they resolved to respect the decision made.
So the leaders of Europe got together, and built a treaty out of page and line references to other treaties (Maastricht Treaty, p 300, paragraph ii, section A: replace 'always' with 'mostly') to mean exactly the same as the Constitution, but designed to be unreadable by anyone but an in-house EU lawyer. They kept the same centralisation of powers, the same changes to voting structure, the same reforms to allow enlargement, and called it 'the Lisbon Treaty'. The leaders of Europhile places reassured their people that this was the same Constitution, just by a different name, to mollify them.
The UK didn't. The UK government, both under Blair and under Brown, swore blind that this was different enough that their manifesto promise of a referendum no longer held. It lacked 'the Constitutional concept', it was 'a mere tidying up of other treaties' - and they resolved to pass it through Parliament, without speaking to the people. France did the same, Holland did the same - in fact, only one country in the whole of Europe allowed the Lisbon Treaty to be judged directly by the voters: the Republic of Ireland.
Amazingly, stunningly, the Irish voted 'No'. All over the UK, eursceptics rejoiced, drinking Guinness outside the Irish Embassy, and singing Irish songs long into the night. The dreaded Constitution-by-stealth had been defeated in the only way it could be - by an Irish vote against it.
That should have been the end of it, but instead the leaders of Europe have decided that time is needed 'to reflect' on the Irish vote, and to 'address their concerns' in the hope that slight tweaks (bribes) can be made to pursuade the Irish to vote again, and this time to get it right. All EU leaders deny that the Constitution is dead - they say this is disappointing, that clearly the Irish didn't understand it, that it is just a minor issue of perception, and exude an arrogance that has left me a Eurosceptic of the first order.
The EU is staggeringly corrupt. Its MEPs and Commissioners waste money like there is no tomorrow, with two parliament buildings in different cities to be fair (Brussles and Strasbourg) and the most generous expense budget in history. They have failed to have the EU accounts signed off by professional auditors for at least seven years, and it is well known that the majority of MEPs 'sign in' to receive their generous daily allowance at 7am on Friday, before going away for the weekend.
The Commissioners are appointed by governments, not elected, so the 27 most powerful people (essentially the Cabinet) are completely unaccountable (they can't be withdrawn by their governments once appointed - see Gordon Brown v Peter Mandelson).
The byzantine and overweight, even Weberian, bureucracy combines the centralising instincts of the Germans with the work ethic of the French. It plans new laws, and new cross-European regulations that are th perfect example of Big Government gone mad. Ironically, only the UK actually obeys EU legislation. The Germans write it, the French pass it, the Italians break it, the Spanish ignore it, and the Brits obey it until we end up contemplating leaving the UK.
The corruption is disgraceful, the lack of democracy, transparency or accountability despicable, and the arrogance of our new European elite in daring to suggest that they can dismiss the voice of the people because it did not accord with what is desired in Brussels is indicative of how malevolent this beast has become.
Europe needs a Constitution - be it Federal, Centralised or simply a Common Market once again - but it must be of the people, for the people, and ratified by the people. We cannot tolerate the further existence of the European Union - it epitomises the very worst of politics, and should be torn down without further ado.
We lack Founding Fathers and Framers - men of virtue and valor, capable of profound intellectual creativity, prescient and pragmatic, able to distil our common values into a document that will elevate the soul and activate the mind.
For my part, I have fallen horribly out of love with the European project. I cannot see how it can be redeemed from where it currently stands, and if we cannot help but be sucked into its devices, then perhaps we really would be Better Off Out.
There are benefits to having open access to a market of 300 million people. There are benefits to being part of a global superpower. There are benfits to knowing that, in international affairs, you are in the company of friends.
For those reasons and more, I think its time that we reversed a little history, and began the UK's applicaiton to join her former colony and closest friend - the United States of America.
Would you have us?
