In a recent exchange in the European Parliament there seems to have been an interesting exchange between Donald Tusk and Mr. ‘UJS’ (Union Jack Sox) – so let put some context by highlighting the exchange – and here is the clip of the 1st part;
The former Ukip leader, Mr. ‘UJS’, then responded to Tusk by describing him as “deluded” and claiming that a second referendum would deliver a larger majority for leave.
As indicated The Guardian article – “In a pantomime moment, Mr. ‘UJS’ turned to those sat behind him to ask whether they really wanted him to return as an MEP. He ended his speech to the parliament by appealing to the EU’s leaders to “get the British out”.
Shortly after this exchange, Tusk hits back;
“Mr ‘UJS’, you have presented passionate arguments against a second referendum, but the truth is that the second referendum took place in 2016 because the first one took in 1975. And then a vast majority of the British public decided that the place of the UK was in the European economic community.
“No, it was you who thought three years ago that it was possible to organise a referendum to invalidate the the previous one, then please be consistent also today.”
This is for context and here are my comments;
Donald Tusk hit the nail on the head – unfortunately it was our head in the way – when he suggested that the EU Parliament is the only one that seems to take the petitions and marches of an increasing number of people seriously. If some want to argue numbers or are concerned with the term “increasing” by all means take them out of the equation altogether and we’re still left with a mess that will NOT be resolved by crossing the line however hard some “try” to think so. The reality is that Donald Tusk speaks for many in this country – myself included – when our own political “establishment” – including the Parliament – is making every effort to suppress our voice of, let’s say the “few million” on a key/consequential vote that affects us all. This is a political establishment that I may have called “disgraceful” except that this term is becoming overused to the extent that is now an understatement; which is precisely why resolving this cookie cannot happen without full accountability to all responsible for this mess as well as ones who caused the prolongation of it.
With all that said and to be completely honest, the EU should have better demonstrated this view deliberately/forcefully during the negotiation process if for nothing but to ensure time/resources are not wasted without validating legitimacy of negotiating partner. In other words they must (or should) have known that reaching the end line in of itself does provide any level of assurance for a permanent deal – so there is indeed a lesson to learned for the EU coming out of these negotiations.
As for the man with the “Union Jack Sox” – and he knows himself – let me just say a couple of things;
- If you and your “fans” are so confident of a resounding win in case of a “People’s Vote” please try hard to have the courage to make it happen; this is not just proof of your conviction but it also protects our Democracy – remember there are no Martians around calling for this People’s Vote.
- As for the EU Parliament NOT wanting you back, I suspect this comment exposes the fact that you know very little about Democracy/Liberal values which is precisely why people like you want us to BREXIT with a straight jacket. There ain’t nothing sophisticated/elaborate about your character/approach or narrow ideology though you may like to cover that fact with a Union Jack sox and your arrogant vulgarity in the EU Parliament – but guess what, the joke is on “you”…sorry I meant to say the joke is actually “You”.
Finally let me just say 1 other thing here which I believe is relevant; I’ve written plenty of posts in the past that call for the need for Democratic/Liberal values to have teeth; in other words we need Liberal leaders who do NOT shy away from rigorously defending these values particularly in moments of political chaos/confusion and the rise of the far right. It is my opinion – though based exclusively from what I see as an outsider where the EU is concerned – that both Donald Tusk and Guy Verhofstadt are 2 leading figures the EU desperately needs at this moment/time in it’s history and I certainly hope they are able to steer the organisation into the path of genuine political/structural reform necessary for the challenges we face today and to demonstrate that the EU is indeed a steady ship – now “the” steady ship – as a counter balance to the narrow/nationalist ideology that provides plenty in the way of rhetoric/sound bites but little in the way of pragmatic solutions of an ever growing complex world.
Nicely put @eucopresident because this is indeed the reality in a nutshell that we face in Britain; a broken political system which many acknowledge yet politicians are like children left running around playing with a sledgehammer. We the people should take it away from them…
— Fidelito (@F_Galal) March 27, 2019