Independents left beyond the boundary
The Government has left it far too late to set up the commission, even though it knew these changes were coming from the time of the Nice Treaty.
A more radical option open to the commission is that the State would become a single EU constituency with the advantage of being easy to change when there are future reductions in seat numbers.
It is also disturbing that pan-European political parties will be funded by the EU budget. This discriminates against independents.
In future, the EU will decide which parties meet their EU criteria and only those that do will receive funding. This is unhealthy for democracy.
I believe that this move by the EU is a further expansion of its influence where it currently has no competence, thereby allowing it to operate in areas where no member country thought it would.
Dana Rosemary Scallon, MEP,
6, Colonial Buildings,
Eglinton Street,
Galway.
