Daniel Hannan
Telegraph [UK]
24th Nov 2010
British Euro MPs Gerard Batten (R) and Godfrey Bloom (L), both of the UK Independence Party, in the demonstration in June 2008 that made Martin Schulz 'think of Hitler'. JOHANNA LEGUERRE/AFP/Getty Images
Godfrey Bloom was thrown out of the chamber of the European Parliament today after being gratuitously rude to the Euro-Socialist leader, Martin Schulz. Irked by Shulz’s complaint that the UK was standing in the way of European integration, the UKIP MEP burst out “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer!” There are times when British Eurosceptics cringe at the behaviour of one of their countrymen, and this was one of them.
Bloom was out of order: whatever else he is, Schulz is no Nazi. But the parliamentary authorities then reacted extraordinarily. The acting Speaker, Edward McMillan-Scott, told his fellow Yorkshire MEP that if he didn’t apologise, he’d be escorted from the room. Bloom replied that the only people who had the right to remove him were his constituents.
McMillan-Scott then called for a vote on whether to eject the red-faced former territorial. The motion was overwhelmingly carried, and Bloom was marched out, wearing with a thunderous expression.
Several aspects of this episode should alarm us. First, there is the democratic objection. Surely it is up to the electorate to decide who sits in a legislature. If Bloom can be denied his place by his fellow MEPs, what is to stop the federalist majority voting to expel every Eurosceptic?
Then there is the liberal objection. In a free society, the right to say what you will trumps the right not to be offended…
…it wasn’t so long ago that one MEP, furious because Eurosceptics were calling for a referendum, said this:
“During the Weimar Republic, some pursued a strategy of trying to shout down their political opponents. That was how Adolf Hitler behaved, and it was how I felt today”.
The author of those words? Martin Schulz. (You can watch him speak them here).
Now Mr Shulz was being silly as well as rude: calling for a referendum is not the same thing as bringing down the Weimar Republic. But no one suggested that he should be forced to apologise, let alone expelled from the hemicycle. Freedom, after all, includes the freedom to make stupid comparisons…
Read the entire article at the Telegraph.
Also by MEP Hannan in the Telegraph: “Here’s what happened when I tried to protest about an MEP being excluded from the chamber.”
* * *
Da Techguy’s post, “More than just a wiff of Fascism” is worth reading, too:
The EU and the fools who decided to give up their identities for the sake of what, in my opinion, amounts to a Franco German alliance sphere and the ability of a lot of elites to get themselves voted comfortable lives paid for by the citizenry, are in a panic.
As the Economic situation gets worse and worse and bailout after bailout is discussed the once invincible Euro zone is showing the inevitable cracks that such foolishness brings…
These people must be getting nervous because they have reached the point where they are escorting people out of the chamber because a Mr. Schultz’s feelings were hurt.
…check out this clip where that same Mr. Schultz throws out the “fascist” label against a person who makes the unforgivable sin of asking for the financial books to be opened.
More at Da Techguy’s Blog.
