It seems to me that the Franco-German core of the EU may have pushed integration a bit too far and a bit too fast. As some nations trend to the right, anti-EU sentiment is becoming mainstream. This Bernard Bot person in the article isn't some head of a tiny far-right party, but rather the foreign minister of the majority government giving a speech in Berlin.

The one thing that I can't quite get is that he blasts the EU, but then supports the current draft of the new constitution. Perhaps that was just to keep loyalty to the party, as I don't think his stated reason for supporting the constitution is a very good one. Yes, the powers will be more delineated, but adopting the constitution also opens the door to more intrusion.

quote:

Dutch want return of powers from Brussels The Daily Telegraph By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels (Filed: 04/06/2004) The Dutch government has called for a major return of powers from Brussels to the nation states, saying that integration has gone too far and lacks popular consent. It said it was time to consider taking back control of health, culture, social policy, aid to poor regions and the subsidy regime of the Common Agricultural Policy. The new Dutch-first aims were laid out by Bernard Bot, the foreign minister, in a landmark speech in Berlin on Wednesday night. It was being compared by the Dutch press yesterday to Margaret Thatcher's Bruges speech in 1988 and marks a dramatic departure for a founding member of the EU that could once be counted on to back every push for closer union. While Mr Bot endorsed the overall idea of European federalism, he put forward a list of concrete national demands that go further than those suggested by Michael Howard, the Tory leader. Calling on the EU to learn self-restraint, he said it was time to stop shoving fresh treaties down the throats of citizens every couple of years. "We must realise that there are limits to the degree of integration that Europeans can digest," he said. "People must be given a chance to adjust. "There is a widespread sense of unease about Europe, about loss of national identity, and about an EU that increasingly intrudes into their everyday lives. "The European Union is, after all, a union of member states. That is something we should never forget." He said that "patronising" Eurocrats were pushing through idiotic regulations "such as telling window cleaners how to hold ladders". By doing so they were "creating a culture of tolerance for rule-breaking" by forcing local authorities to defy the law. Mr Bot is no firebrand populist. He has been toiling in the EU vineyards for almost 40 years, serving as head of the Dutch delegation in Brussels for a decade before becoming foreign minister for the Christian Democrats, the most pro-European party in the Netherlands. Answering questions in Berlin, he said it was "ludicrous" that the EU was now deciding how many beds there should be in a hospital room. He said that such meddling reflexes would stretch the European project to snapping point. "Is Europe really the best level at which to regulate landscape gardening?" he asked. A senior Dutch official said the speech was intended to be a warning to a high-handed elite in Brussels that appeared to have lost touch with reality. "There are some very British elements in this speech," he said. "The feeling is that we risk a popular revolt unless the citizens start to feel represented." The mood in the Netherlands has soured since Pim Fortuyn, the late homosexual maverick, burst on to the political scene two years ago, launching virulent attacks on Brussels, Muslim imams and the bloated welfare state. He was shot dead by an animal rights activist. Mr Bot said he supported the new European constitution, believing that it made "the locus of power more visible" in the system and gave EU citizens a greater say over the institutions. At the same time, the Netherlands has imposed its own red line by threatening to block the treaty this month unless member states retain their veto over the budget. The Netherlands is the biggest net contributor per capita to the EU budget, but does not receive a British-style rebate. It is expected to hold a referendum on the text, which could lead to an upset no vote. In a caustic aside, Mr Bot mocked the "arrogance" of states "such as France" which threatened to expel those countries that rejected the constitution after a popular vote without daring to put the text to their own people. Jacques Chirac, the French president, has resiled from earlier support for the idea of a referendum, chiefly because the opinion polls suggest he might lose it.

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FLUSHED THE JOHNS!