eurealist.co.uk

Also in the Telegraph
Here :

An opinion on the EU machinations of yesterday:

“Peculiarly, MEPs chose to make a stand not over the widespread fraud and waste in Brussels, but over a man professing sentiments which may not be held by the majority, but which do echo the views of significant numbers of ordinary people. It is not just Catholics who believe homosexuality is a sin, as Rocco Buttiglione said, and that a married woman benefits from the protection of a man. The people of Italy - still a Catholic country - have the right to be pretty angry that the person chosen by Silvio Berlusconi to represent them in Brussels has been rejected for holding these views, and that this has brought down the whole commission. Mr Berlusconi is the duly elected prime minister. Not all Italians like him, but they do respect his right to govern”

…….
The EU is gradually taking on the style of a state, and one which enshrines values that tend to be politically correct and Leftish. It mutates old-fashioned liberal themes, such as separating church and state, into a sort of secular religion, to be policed from Brussels. These values inform its rapidly expanding institutional and legal structures, whether they be the Human Rights Act, which celebrates rights more than duties, or the deluge of regulations and directives that interfere in the discretion of both individuals and businesses. The EU’s underlying values might seem rational, but they are quite often contrary to common sense. They are monolithic too, in defiance of the tolerant, diverse and cosmopolitan attitudes prevalent in European society for half a century or more.

But the most worrying thing is that they lack legitimacy. They are the creed of a new European political class, aloof from ordinary people but impatient for power and status. The European parliamentary elections in May are a good example of this. Turnout was down again across Europe and, in Britain, only 38 per cent of people voted in a ballot for which they have very little affection or respect. The paradox of yesterday’s events is that they are a great victory for the European Parliament, but not for democracy.