mr president the use of the referendum direct democracy is not an exotic version of democracy
it is the original form government by the people and not government on behalf of the people
so perhaps we should be grateful to the eu for introducing this
i think not
the eu only likes democracy when it can manage it and arrange for a result that it wants
we have heard that the power to call such a referendum will be limited by mischievous provisions such as the eu's competence and the eu's own version of human rights which in reality means political repression limitation on freedom of speech and even on freedom of thought
one final point is that democracy means government by the people an identifiable and cohesive unit and not government by an arbitrary collection of persons
mass migration has made this difficult to achieve
europe as a whole has become even less of a single people than it might otherwise have been
nevertheless it is better than nothing and we might at least demonstrate that this initiative was a hollow promise
