Sorry Italy, I know he's your man but we don't like him

Here is Boris Johnson (MP) on the recent troubles in the EU parliament:

Sig Buttiglione was sent to Brussels with all the solemn authority of the government in Rome. That government's authority in turn derives from the sovereign people of Italy. And yet Sig Buttiglione has been rejected by a polyglot babel of 25 countries, and the will of the people of Italy has been frustrated. What we saw yesterday was the collision of two democratic imperatives: the right of the people of Italy to have their government's man in Brussels, and the right of that nebulous demos, the people of Europe - represented in this bizarre mother-in-law of parliaments - to say no.

And there we have it. You may not agree with Buttiglione but there are many, many people who do and quite a few of those come from a very Catholic Italy. Who will answer to them over this? No one. The politicians who have denied them their representation don't ever have to listen to them and can never be voted out of their seats by them. The parliament they sit in isn't even in the same country. Tough shit peasants. You've had your Empire now let us have ours.

Posted by John at October 28, 2004 02:45 PM | TrackBack