Green Party leader Natalie Bennett said today that the Green Party stood
for "Three Yeses - yes to a referendum, yes to major EU reform and yes
to staying in a reformed Europe".
Natalie urged people to consider the first "Yes" in a different context
to David Cameron's promise of a referendum - only if the Conservatives
win a majority in the 2015 election - which has more to do with
political game-playing and trying to hold together
a deeply divided party that is failing in government.
The Green leader said: "The Green Party believes in democracy and
self-determination. On important issues like this, voters should be
given the opportunity to express a clear view."
On a reformed EU, the Green Party believes that decisions should be made
at the lowest possible appropriate level, closest to the lives of the
people it affects. It supports democratic decision-making - not the
imposition of dictats from above, such as the
austerity that has been forced on the people of many states in south
Europe.
Natalie added: "'Yes to the EU' does not mean we are content with the
union continuing to operate as it has in the past. There is a huge
democratic deficit in its functioning, a serious bias towards the
interests of neoliberalism and 'the market', and central
institutions have been overbuilt. But to achieve those reforms we need
to work with fellow EU members, not try to dictate high handedly to
them, as David Cameron has done."
On 'yes to staying in a reformed Europe', the Green Party believes Great
Britain should not abandon the European Union, but instead work from
inside to make it into a fair and democratic union rather than just a
vehicle for international trade.
The European Union is well placed to enact policies on crucial issues
such as human and workers' rights, climate change and international
crime. It is through EU regulation that our renewable energy targets
have been set and hundreds of thousands of jobs have
been created.
European action on air pollution, meanwhile, is forcing the British
government to take the issue seriously, and the EU is leading the way on
a financial transactions tax while Britain, in the grip of the City,
resists.
Natalie concluded: "We need to continue to work with our European
partners to build strong, locally democratic communities that decide
their own way within the framework of minimum standards on workers' and
consumer rights, the environment, and on human rights
- and which work together to build a more peaceful and sustainable
world."