With the European Union, even when you win the battle you're still losing the war.
I’m writing this with an oddly surreal sense that something is
fundamentally wrong with the universe. Okay that might be a bit of an
exaggeration, but something happened today that is a historical
first.
As a UKIP member of the European Parliament, I’ve actually
managed to get one (technically three along similar lines) of my amendments to
the EU budget passed by the Parliament. Things like this aren’t supposed to
happen: having previously submitted many hundreds of proposals to save
taxpayers’ money, I’ve always watched them voted down by huge
majorities.
When I was a young teenager I was taken on a school exchange
visit to Northern Spain. Part of the visit included going to a bullfight, and I
won’t ever forget either the stench of blood mixed with sand on a hot summer day
or the cheering of the crowd at an animal’s suffering.
Even if you consider bullfighting to be acceptable (and I
certainly don’t), this is not what our taxes should be going
towards.
I’ve been pushing my opposition to the use of EU money (and,
therefore, your taxes) to subsidise bullfighting for the past three years. The
last time the issue came up, the European Parliament complained about the
practice – only to be told by the European Commission that EU regulations didn’t
allow the Commission to do anything about it.
As it seemed like the issue had been quietly dropped, I had
another go. I drafted an amendment suggesting that as the Commission are
responsible for drafting EU Regulations, they might do well to actually fix the
offending Regulation rather than adopt a ‘not me, guv’
approach.
I did all the usual things – a quiet word here and there with
those who might support me, and I emailed my entire Committee to ask for their
support. When the vote was lost in Committee, I thought that was likely to be
the final result – but together with some Italian colleagues, we persuaded
others in my Group to allow us to retable the amendments to the full
Parliament.
We won, making it the first ever UKIP amendment to the EU Budget
to be passed by the European Parliament. It honestly came as a bit of a
surprise, because I thought we’d need the Committee’s backing to get the vote
through the Parliament.
I would now be busy with a self-congratulatory slap on the back,
if it weren’t for two things. Firstly, the Commission may again try to weasel
their way out of dealing with the problem. Secondly – and far more importantly –
I tabled over 300 other amendments on different subjects with the aim of saving
taxpayers’ money, and from the EU’s perspective they really should be preparing
for the hole in their budget that Brexit will cause. Others were calling for
more transparency about the activities of the unelected European Commission.
Those other amendments were all rejected out of hand, though surprisingly one
demanding transparency failed by just thirty votes – one win, one near-miss, and
hundreds of losses.
I find it incredibly frustrating that as a UKIP MEP, I’m often
accused of doing nothing or not trying to minimise the problems caused by the
EU: the reality couldn’t be further from the truth, it’s just that we’re usually
outvoted by those who want (and most of them admit it) a United States of
Europe.
Many people used to claim that the EU can be reformed. At one
time they would have cited this one victory as evidence that reform is
possible, but the EU’s intransigence over Brexit negotiations must surely now
show what a pipe dream that was.
A victory is still encouraging, even when every victory is
accompanied by over a hundred defeats. But with the European Union, even when
you win the battle you’re still losing the war. Roll on Brexit! Journal.
