eurealist.co.uk

The Times has picked up on the Rapid Reaction Farce I posted here

THE European Parliament is to establish a “rapid reaction force” to address what it considers to be unfair criticism of the European constitution in any EU member state.
http://eurealist.blogspot.com/2005/01/rapid-reaction-farce.html

The move has angered opponents of the proposed constitition, who say that the rapid reaction force is made up entirely of MEPs who support the constitition but is funded by taxpayers’ money. One leading Eurosceptic MEP said that the move was reminiscent of totalitarianism.

Jens Peter Bonde, a Danish Eurosceptic MEP, said: “It is a good idea to have a rapid reaction force, but you must have both sides to clear up real misunderstandings. You can’t have a rapid reaction force with taxpayers’ money and represent only one view — it’s a totalitarian tendency.”

As part of a campaign by Brussels, to combat Euroscepticism in the Union in time for a wave of referendums on the constitution, the Parliament has told its representative office in each country to monitor the press and note unfair criticism. MEPs will then be asked to write letters to the newspapers to put the record straight.

The European Parliament is also sending delegations consisting of only pro-constitution MEPs to parliaments in London and Paris, and last week spent €375,000 (£260,000) on a pro-constitution rally in Strasbourg.

Richard Corbett, the Labour spokesman for the constitution in the European Parliament, who helped to set up the new system and who is being paid €2,000 in expenses to promote the constitution, said: “There are a lot of occasions when people get things totally wrong. We will have a system going to pick out the stories to respond to.”