One of the advantages I have as a non-attached member of the European Parliament - I am not a member of any political group - is that I have more opportunities to speak on important issues. Within the political groups it tends to be only the Presidents of the groups who get important speaking time.
On Tuesday I was able to question Jose Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission. I asked him who it might be possible to have common EU policies when time and time again we see an inability to reach concensus on importnat issues such as foreign relations and security and defence. I suggested that it would not be possible to implement common policy with some loss of democracy for thye EU member states.
The President's reply was evasive to say the least. I think I hit a raw nerve.
I was also able to ask a supplementary question concerning pan-European political parties. He confirmed to me that these parties are an integral part of EU integration, and the development of the EU as a state in its own right.
We must be aware of this, and not be seduced - as some clearly are - by the promise of extra cash if our own politicians allow themselves to be subsumed into these wretched pan-European political parties.
