Eurosceptics show their true colours

1.00.00pm GMT Thu 31st Jan 2008

British eurosceptics went a step too far this morning in Parliament's plenary session when Daniel Hannan, a UK eurosceptic Tory, likened the European Parliament to Nazi Germany in 1933. The incident arose as Parliament was approving a procedural measure to prevent abuse of its rules on roll call votes and points of order intended to obstruct the functioning of Parliament.

The analogy was enough for the chairman of the EPP-ED group to declare that he would recommend to his group that the British eurosceptic be thrown out.

Graham Watson, Liberal and Democrat group leader in the Parliament condemned the comments by Mr. Hannan:

"By comparing a vote today in the European Parliament with a vote in the Reichstag in 1933, UK Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan is plumbing new depths in UK-EU relations and in the Tories' approach to democracy in the EU."

"I trust that David Cameron will waste no time in dissociating himself from such an offensive remark."

The proposals for action, following eurosceptics' attempts at disruption, have been examined in Parliament's committee responsible for the rules of the House:

Andrew Duff, leader of the UK Liberal Democrat delegation in the European Parliament and coordinator on the committee responsible, said:

"The Tory-UKIP accusation that the Parliament is acting unconstitutionally is a lie. The rules of procedure are perfectly clear and are being applied fairly with the overhelming support of the House. It is shameful that the British far right should seek to obstruct the operation of the European Parliament. Britain's reputation as a model parliamentary democracy is at risk of being shattered by the hooligan behaviour of British europhobes."

ENDS

Editor's note:

Requests from the UKIP parliamentary group for a roll call vote on every vote in plenary is now costing Parliament hundreds of thousands of euros every month in translation, production and distribution. Each roll call vote costs € 528 (£400). At Parliament's January session in Strasbourg there were 185 RCVs bringing the total cost to almost €100,000 (£75,000). If this were to continue, the total bill for the year would be approaching €1m (£750,000).