International

The pressure is mounting: according to a study conducted by the European Parliament, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic now just about fulfil the economic criteria for access to the eurozone. Some of my fellow MEPs believe that it’s high time that these countries ‘seized the chance’ to introduce the euro. So do we never learn? Bulgaria is as corrupt as you like and many Bulgarians don’t even want to join. That’s why it seems important that no more countries are allowed in without a referendum.

‘Do you want to be able to pay with the euro when on holiday?’ This is how the introduction of the euro was presented to us by the Finance Minister of the day, Gerrit Zalm. Few people in the Netherlands still believe in this fairy story. Following the eurocrisis we know better: the rapid entry of weak economies into the euro led only to catastrophe. Despite this, every EU country is obliged to introduce the euro when it meets the criteria, unless, like the United Kingdom and Denmark, they have an ‘opt out’, thanks to the Lisbon Treaty which laid down these rules.

Perhaps we don’t hear so much about the accession of new member states to the eurozone, but behind the scenes the europhiles are working diligently to further their plans. The European Commission follows economic developments in all potential eurozone countries closely. The research bureau of the European Parliament does this too, and has collected a number of stats and identifies the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Sweden as likely candidates on the grounds that they fulfil the technical-economic criteria. Of course, after all the misery in Greece, I wouldn’t want to join too quickly either.

That doesn’t stop some MEPs from urging a debate on Bulgaria and the Czech Republic’s accession. Not that the European Parliament has any say in this, but European integration is never going to be stalled and the EP is, in its own eyes, certainly obliged to encourage the countries in question to get on with it. This is the umpteenth example of the gap between these so-called ‘representatives of the people’ and the people whom they claim to represent. In this sort of thing it’s best not to trust the EP. Only by hearing the opinions of the electorate itself, via a referendum, can you be sure that their voices have really been heard.