EU RAISED HAND VOTE A FARCE WITH UP TO 600 VOTES AN
HOUR * How the EP voting system makes a mockery of democracy. Eurofacts12th May, 2006 Vol 11 No 15 (It is likely that many EU directives do not reflect the views of those who voted on them) [In plain language a large
number of directives were passed by the EP, which its members had not voted
through.] By Graham Booth UKIP MEP for the South West Last October, during one of
the European Parliament’s monthly voting sessions, the acting President
Antonios Trakatellis called for a vote on an amendment and surveyed the 600-odd
arms waving like corn in the field. He declared that “it was
approved”. Several MEPs doubted he had made the right decision and called for an
electronic check, which showed that it had actually been rejected by a
massive
502 votes to 128.
If an error of such magnitude had been made by a fledgling government in a developing third world country it would either have been greeted with howls of derision or possibly with sympathy and offers of financial aid to install proper electronic equipment. BUT THIS IS THE EUROPEAN UNION -which claims to be the
largest trading bloc in the world and whose directives affect the lives of all 400
million of its citizens. Since the EU’s creation in
1957, with just 6 member - states, it has always relied on voting by a show of
hands. Although electronic equipment was installed some 20 years ago it is only
used when specifically requested, or as a check when the ‘count’ of
hands is in doubt. Now that there
are 25 members with 20 different languages the system clearly doesn’t work. That incident in October
2005 persuaded me to compile a dossier of such errors. A significant number of
wrong calls have been corrected by electronic checks since then but Mario Mauro
who was acting President on January 18th this year, hit the jackpot
when he declared a vote on an amendment to Climate Change directive “rejected”
when the electronic check that was called for showed that it had been approved
by an astonishing 574 votes [for] To 41! [Against] Possibly more sinister have been the number of times when calls for a check have fallen on deaf ears and have been ignored, so that we shall never know if those results were correct. Frequently remarks such as “We think it’s carried”, “looks adopted” “We think it is approved” Etc…. are made but never checked. The speed at which the
voting is carried out is quite ridiculous and is another contributory factor
(either by accident or design) in achieving incorrect results - We sometimes get through Over 600 amendments in an hour (one
every 5 seconds!) * Fraction of a Second The English interpretation of the call to vote sounds like ‘those infavourable those
against- abstentions’ -as if it were one
word. MEPs voting in favour can start
to raise a hand as soon as the amendment number is given but those wishing to
vote against have only a fraction of a second to raise a hand and if it is not
lowered immediately it is counted as an abstention. This wording clearly favours
those MEPs who are voting in favour.
Sure enough when I checked one recent batch of 202 votes that I had recorded, 155 ‘were approved’ and only 47 ‘rejected. A large proportion of
amendments as well as full directives are voted on by a show of hands, so it is
very likely that many of the directives that are now ruling our lives DO NOT
correctly represent the wishes of the MEPs who voted on them. All of threes facts have
been reported to the President of the European Parliament, Sr. Josep Borrell,
by myself and by Vladimir Zelezny (of Czech Republic) with a request for full
electronic voting in future. Sr. Borrell has defended the
present system and has correctly pointed out that electronic voting would be
slower than a show of hands but he has, nevertheless, given his permission for
us to forward a ‘Proposal for Amendment of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure’,
which my colleague and I did on April 18th,
2006. Full electronic voting would
at least ensure that every vote is correctly recorded: ‘It will be interesting to
see what the Committee on Constitutional Affairs considers to be most
important- accuracy or a prompt lunch. If the present system
continues it does beg the question: What is the point of 732
MEPs making an arduous journey to Strasbourg once a month, where
voting should be the key part of the proceedings, only to find that constant
errors are making a mockery of their efforts? * * 86 per cent against EU
Constitution in UK A joint survey by the Robert
Schuman Foundation and EU Barometer finds that, amongst those countries, which
haven’t yet ratified the EU Constitution, Support in the UK is all of
14 per cent with those AGAINST at 86 per cent No wonder the word[s] EU
Constitution never passes Blair’s lips. * * * [Font altered-bolding &
underlining used -comments in brackets] MAY/06 * LATE NEWS
From the Daily MailWednesday May, 17-2006 By James SlackHome Affairs Editor ROMANIA and Bulgaria remain
on course to join the EU at the start of next year despite concerns about the
rampant organised crime. Residents of the two impoverished
countries are expected to be granted FULL RIGHTS to LIVE and WORK in Britain
from January 1, sparking another influx of Eastern European migrants. There are also fears of
illegal IMMIGRATION -using passports obtained
fraudulently in Bulgaria and Romania. Criminal gangs in Russia and
the Ukraine are certain to take advantage of the situation. The EU Commission has the
power to delay accession beyond next year, but yesterday it opted for words
rather than action. It gave the two countries
five months to sort out organised crime, even though they have already had up
to five years to bring it under control while talks over their membership have
been taking place. A decision on whether they
will be allowed to join next year will now be made in October-2006, rather than
yesterday as originally planned. Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said: ‘Bulgaria needs to demonstrate
evidence of resolve in the fight against high-level corruption, investigations and
judicial proceedings. It must reform the judiciary
and remove ambiguities about judicial independence. [We
wonder how the Commission President managed to keep a straight face -after all his
shower must have the most corrupt body of individuals in the world as their own
accounts have not been passed for over 11 years. What we suggest or better want Mr Barroso is to leave your corrupt
totalitarian police state as quickly as possible and leave the German /Franco
pact to shoulder the extra expense -which will certainly lead to the END of the
European Union which will be better for all concerned. One of our greatest Prime
Ministers William Pitt, (1759-1806) son of the Earl of Chatham (1708-1778) said
the following true words, which certainly apply in the above case: ‘England has saved herself
by her exertions; and will, as I trust, save Europe by her example’ (9 Nov-1805) What better example than for England to leave the EU-we leave it to our sister nations to decide their own fate another example which we wish they would follow? To
continue: [Mr Barroso also said] ‘Romania also needs to
continue efforts in the fight against corruption in terms of further
investigations and a fully functioning judicial system.’ But he made it clear that he
hoped to allow both countries to join the EU. [This is typical EU strategy
as the more heads there are in the European Police State proletariat the better
to hide the corruption or at least pass it around so that it disappears into
the black hole which has been there since its beginnings over 50 years ago.] To continue: Estimates on the numbers
likely to head straight to Britain from Bulgaria and Romania range from 55,000,
from the Left-of-centre IPPR think-tank, to MIGRATIONWATCH -UK’s 300,000. Sir Andrew Green,
Migrationwatch’s chairman, said this figure was based on the GOVERNMENT’S
OWN METHODOLOGY and a repeat of the decision for the UK to ‘go it alone’ [Maintain an open-door
policy] in
not imposing restrictions on free movement of new members. When the EU expanded
Eastwards in 2004 to take in 10 new countries including Poland, Britain chose
not to limit the numbers arriving here, UNLIKE: France Germany Italy Netherlands Austria. This was blamed on the
GOVERNMENT being so hopelessly wrong on the numbers who would come here. It
predicted 13,000 a year compared to the 345,000 -who actually arrived here? [Well! when the shambles of supposed
LAW and ORDER in our country was highlighted a few days ago it showed
that that the extra laws on the statute book particularly the 1998 Human Rights
Act had made the situation even worse as even Tony Blair has NOW himself
admitted. There cannot be many people
in our country who are now are extremely angry when they see how they were
deceived in 1997 by the youthful and fresh complexion of Tony Blair ‘the
people’s slave’ who has certainly done a great deal of good in making
many voters NOW realise that ONLY with PR-Proportional
Representation - will their be a voice for
millions of people in this country who wish most urgently to leave the expensive
-corrupt totalitarian police state called by the name of the EUROPEAN UNION. * * * [Font altered-bolding &
underlining used-comments in brackets] MAY/06*
* [Latest Addition - June07] * * *
*
Daniel Hannan - Forming an OPPOSITION to the EU
*
VOTE MAY -2007
WITH THE ONLY PARTY WITH A MANDATE TO SET YOU FREE
THE UK INDEPENDENCE PARTY
TO RECLAIM YOUR DEMOCRACY DON'T VOTE FOR THE TRIPARTITE PARTIES IN WESTMINSTER BUT SMALL PARTIES THAT SPEAK THEIR MINDS WITHOUT SPIN AND LIES. *
ONLY WILL BRING DEMOCRACY BACK TO THE ENGLISH PEOPLE * WHY NOT
* MAY/07
[All underlined words have a separate bulletin]
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