International

SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong has called for a referendum in the Netherlands on plans fro a European Economic Government. ‘The eurocrisis plans of the European Commission and EU heads of government follow one after the other ever more rapidly,’ he said. ‘It’s now or never. I want the Dutch people to be given the chance, as rapidly as is practical, to express their views via a referendum on the proposals for an Economic Government.’

This was De Jong’s reaction to the plans launched yesterday by the European Commission. “Decisions are no longer being taken over billions of euros but over trillions,” he said. “With these proposals we’re well on the way to a federal Europe.” The Commission’s proposals would mean that power over the Netherlands’ own national budget would eventually no longer be in the hands of the country’s own parliament and government in The Hague, but in Brussels. Referring to the traditional annual ‘Prinsjesdag’ speech by the Queen, in which she lays out the government’s plans for the coming year, De Jong said that the plans meant that “it will soon be better if it takes place in Brussels.”
The Euro-MP issued his call for a referendum during a televised debate involving the Christian Democrats and the populist right PVV, which supported the plan.