"Your Man in Brussels"

Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso, obviously had one eye on next month's football World Cup when he recently chose a sporting metaphor to describe the Commission's increasingly desperate strategy for the Constitution:

"We are going into extra time; we are not yet at the stage of penalty shoot-outs."!

So the debate drags on...

As expected, little has been achieved by the Austrian Presidency of the EU on the Constitution front. The latest plan is to wait until January 2007 when Germany will assume the rotating EU Presidency, with many believing that the Eurocrats will not awake from their period of reflection until after the French Presidential elections in Spring 2007.

Eurocrats hail that 13 out of 15 countries have ratified the Constitution. However, we must not forget that only 2 of the 13 have done so by consulting their public through referenda.

Clearly the European public is still sceptical. Surveys show that as many as 80% of the residents of Hastings are “opposed” or “strongly opposed” to the Constitution

The latest country to ratify the Constitution through their Parliament was Estonia, a newly acceded country that has gained much from EU membership. Despite the Estonian parliament's keenness to ratify, reports suggest that public support for the Constitution is low within Estonia, with a recent poll suggesting that only 12% of Estonians believe that the Constitution will help Europe.

Despite the rejection of the Constitution by two founder member states, France and Holland, it is still the hope of the Eurocrats, that these two countries will be talked around - Prime Minister Juncker of Luxembourg has already claimed that any country giving a 'NO' vote would have to
vote again until it gave the “right answer”!

I call on Mr Blair to give the people of Hastings the opportunity to have their say in this debate over Europe's future - a result which I believe would deliver a resounding 'NO' and kill off the Constitution once and for all.

Please to let me know if there is anything I can do to help you, be it taking up issues with the European Commission or speaking up on your behalf on the floor of the European Parliament. You can reach my office on 0207 642 8880 or by e-mail at office@nirjdeva.com.