Headless Chicken Could Run and Run; the Collapse of the European Commission Holds New Dangers for Opponents of Closer Integration with Europe, Says Chris Gray

Gray, Chris, The Birmingham Post (England)

The European Union has, in one memorable phrase bandied about yesterday, been decapitated.

The resignations of all 20 European Commissions means it now resembles a headless chicken, running about frantically before finally dropping dead.

Some would like to believe the corruption crisis will make the idea of more European integration as dead as the proverbial dodo.

But in fact the momentum from the crisis is running the other way.

Yesterday Conservative leader Mr William Hague was a lone voice when he argued that the correct response was to take powers away from Europe and give them back to national governments.

The rest of the talk was of giving more power to the European Parliament, creating new organisations to act as watchdogs over the Commission and most extraordinary, of increasing the number of bureaucrats working for the Commission itself.

It is impossible to overestimate the significance of this crisis for the European Union and therefore for Britain.

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: Headless Chicken Could Run and Run; the Collapse of the European Commission Holds New Dangers for Opponents of Closer Integration with Europe, Says Chris Gray. Contributors: Gray, Chris - Author. Newspaper title: The Birmingham Post (England). Publication date: March 17, 1999. Page number: 13. © 2009 Birmingham Post & Mail Ltd. COPYRIGHT 1999 Gale Group.

This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.