Martin Daubney: EU adventure has already descended into farce
Martin Daubney is Brexit Party MEP for the West Midlands. In the first of a series of diary pieces, he takes Express & Star readers inside the “belly of the EU beast” in Brussels.
After our first week in Strasbourg – where we turned our backs on the EU’s national anthem and Anne Widdecombe compared British citizens to slaves of the EU – we at the Brexit Party didn’t think things could get any more ridiculous.
And then we went to a Brussels. Where to begin with the farce that is the European Union?
Let’s start at the very top: in Ursula von der Leyen, the EU has a new elected President, a second-rate former German Defence Minister who is set to replace Jean-Claude “long lunch” Juncker, writes Martin Daubney.
Staggeringly, Ms von der Leyen wasn’t even one of the four candidates on the ballot paper MEPs voted on in Strasbourg.
The EU overrode the shortlist, and simply elected her anyway! Across the political spectrum (aside from the Liberal Democrats, for whom the EU is a holy oath never to be criticised) MEPs blasted this decision as a betrayal of democracy.
Anointing a leader against the will of a parliament isn’t the action of a democracy. It’s a dictatorship. How can Remainers defend this anti-democratic stitch up? Answers, please, on the world’s smallest postcard.
Undeterred, Von dear Leyen, an EU zealot of the very highest calibre, wasted no time in insulting 17.4 million Britons when she declared that she, “hopes the UK abandons Brexit”.
I can assure you, Ms Von der Leyen, that isn’t going to happen so long as Brexiteers draw breath.
More absurdity was to follow.
All MEPs are allowed to join EU committees groups, where they can campaign on issues that matter to them.
With the intention of fighting for more investment in the West Midlands, I joined the the Regional Development Committee.
What followed was a total farce. When we voted for five chairs of the group, and men took the first three roles, the vote was suspended due to new EU gender equality laws. Why?
Of the two remaining candidates, only one was a woman. It transpires it needs to be two women for quotas. The best man wasn’t given the job because he wasn’t a woman. This is despite the fact that in other committees, four women and one man was considered the pinnacle of inclusivity.
So, at taxpayer’s expense, 43 Committee members and their staff now need to traipse back to Brussels for a second vote on July 22 so diversity boxes are ticked. You couldn’t make it up.
Meanwhile, on the PECH (Fisheries) Committee, Liberal Democrat Chris Davies was elected as chair. He duly told the Brexit Party fisherman’s champion, MEP June Mummery, that “UK territorial waters belong to EU we are not leaving”.
Isn’t it strange how this people are neither liberal, nor democratic in their outlook – and yet they snaffle the top jobs, toeing the EU line.
