6TH JULY 2010: THIS afternoon Andrew Brons made an unsuccessful attempt to address the Plenary Session under the 'Catch the Eye' procedure to a debate on the Spanish Presidency.

This is what the British National Party MEP for Yorkshire and North East Lincolnshire would have said given the opportunity.

"The Spanish Presidency* began with an acknowledgement of an enormous act of deceit that had been practised on the peoples of Europe. Mr. Lopez Garrido was taunted, in an AFCO committee meeting by a committee member that he (Mr. Lopez) had said that the Constitutional Treaty was stillborn, when in fact it was alive and kicking, in the form of the Lisbon Treaty. Mr. Lopez Garrido agreed that he had been wrong and that the Constitutional Treaty was indeed alive and kicking in the form of the Lisbon Treaty.

The pretence that the two documents were different was to avoid further referendums that would inevitably have been lost. An organisation that relies on pretence and misinformation has no claim to moral authority.

The particular issue that has challenged the EU during the period of the Spanish Presidency has been the economic crisis.

The Europe 2020 document, drawn up by the Commission, admits that growth has been negative and unemployment has soared.

The economic problems facing the EU are not temporary but systemic. They result from the refusal of the EU and its member states to protect the jobs and markets of Europe from the threat of Globalism. The only way, in a global market, in which European countries could compete with emerging economies, would be for our wage rates to fall to their levels."

* The Spanish Presidency refers to the Spanish Government's six month period of presiding over the Council (formerly Council of Ministers), which comprises a representative of each member state - usually the foreign minister. Spain's Presidency has just come to an end and will be succeeded by the Belgian Presidency. The Council is not to be confused with the European Council, comprising heads of government, which is presided over by President Herman van Rompuy!