Belgian Prime Minister
Herman Van Rompuy believes separate national emblems should be scrapped
in a drive to create a new Euro identity.
He also supports a huge
extension of EU influence over town halls, schools and sports, and he
wants “green taxes” to be imposed across all 27 member nations.
Details of his staunch
Euro federalist views emerged yesterday as Brussels sources confirmed
he is almost certain to be installed as EU President on Thursday.
But opponents warned
that his appointment is certain to bring a fresh wave of unacceptable
interference in Britain’s affairs.
Shadow Foreign
Secretary William Hague said: “Any attempt to move the EU further
towards a federal state would be unacceptable.
“The British people
never had a chance to give their view on whether the job of president
should exist at all.”
Tory MP Douglas
Carswell, a leading Eurosceptic, said: “It is pretty shocking that
there is a chance that the EU is about to be led by a man who wants to
erase symbols of national identity.
“This shows that the
European superstate has arrived. If we are serious about doing
something about this threat, we should stop complaining and starting
holding a referendum on Britain’s future relationship with the EU.”
Mr Van Rompuy, 62, has
overtaken Tony Blair as the favourite for the presidency, which was
created under the Lisbon Treaty.European leaders will name the winner
in Brussels.
Many see Mr Van Rompuy
as a less divisive and flashy figure than Mr Blair – someone who will
not overshadow leaders such as France’s Nicolas Sarkozy or Germany’s
Angela Merkel.
But critics are
horrified at Mr Van Rompuy’s fanatically pro-federalist views. He said
he favoured the Lisbon Treaty as long as it promoted the aim of “more
Europe”. He also helped to draw up a federalist manifesto for his
Flemish Christian Democrat Party, calling for more EU power.
It said: “Apart from
the euro, other national symbols need to be replaced by European
symbols – licence plates, identity cards, presence of more EU flags,
one-time EU sports events.”
Speaking at a private
dinner organised by EU federalists at the Chateau de Val-Duchesse,
where the EU’s founding Treaty of Rome was negotiated in 1957, Mr Van
Rompuy also backed plans for “green taxes” to fund the EU.
He said: “The
possibilities of financial levies at European level must be seriously
examined, and for the first time large countries in the union are open
to that.”
But Mr Hague said:
“Britain would not be the only country that would find a proposal to
give the EU tax-raising powers totally unacceptable. Advocacy of such a
policy is not a fruitful use of anyone’s time.”
Pieter Van Cleppe, of
the think- tank Open Europe, said: “Van Rompuy is your typical EU
federalist. He isn’t going to step on anyone’s toes or try to dominate
the world like Tony Blair or President Sarkozy might have.
“But he can be relied
upon to quietly make sure that the EU gets more and more powers, with
less and less say for voters.”
From the Daily Express
