One-way tide
Sir: Your leader 'Sovereign Remedies' (5 June) clarifies one of the key European constitutional issues in an exemplary man- ner. It asks those involved in this debate to say 'whether they want a sovereign Euro- pean Parliament, a sovereign Commission or a sovereign Council of Ministers'.
The Commission is an appointed author- ity, and our political culture is not such as to accord sovereignty to such a body. The Council embodies the authority of 12 governments which in turn reset on majori- ties within their national parliaments. But the European Parliament results from Community-wide elections which, for all their imperfections, give us the representa- tive authority which expresses popular sovereignty on a European scale. As for power, the Single European Act has confirmed that the European Parlia- ment's powers are expanding to the point where it can legitimately be seen as a co-legislator alongside the Council of Ministers. If there is a tide in the affairs of nations, it would seem to be flowing unambiguously in one direction.
Martyn Bond
European Parliament Information Office, 2 Queen Anne's Gate, London SW1
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