mr president see how stealthily how silkily by how many small steps how insidiously and invidiously we have moved towards the establishment of a pan-european federal police force
when europol was first established in the early nineteen nineties it was presented as a clearing house as a regional branch of interpol if you like
since then bit by bit it has been given executive and policing powers
first these were portrayed as being narrowly restricted to the field of cross-border counter-terrorist activities
that of course is how the fbi got started and bit by bit it eventually extended its remit and agglomerated powers until it had become a federal pan-continental police force
a similar process is now at work with europol which has gradually extended its remit to cover a whole series of crimes that are national in nature but with the rather fascinating oversight that its personnel still have diplomatic immunity in other words they cannot be held to account for abuse of police powers
when did we ever vote for this
when did we ever agree to set up a pan-european system of criminal justice with its own arrest warrant its own police force its own prosecuting magistracy and its own pan-european public prosecutor
i think we ought to have the courtesy to ask our people our voters whether they approve
