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timesofmalta.com - Bonde hangs his EP boots
Wednesday, 26th March 2008

Bonde hangs his EP boots
Ivan Camilleri



Jens-Peter Bonde
Danish Eurosceptic MEP Jens-Peter Bonde has announced his retirement from the European Parliament saying he will now dedicate his time to "build a better EU".

Known in Malta for his visits to the country before the EU accession referendum to campaign against Malta's membership, Mr Bonde is one of the longest-serving MEPs.

Mr Bonde said that on his 60th birthday, tomorrow, he will step down as an MEP. His parliamentary seat will be taken by Hanne Dahl, leader of the Danish June Movement.

Mr Bonde was first elected in 1979 and has been an MEP ever since. Formerly a champion of Danish independence from the EU, Mr Bonde says he has seen the EU change and has himself changed along with it.

As an MEP, Mr Bonde has spent more than half of the time as group leader or co-president. He co-chairs, together with Nigel Farage, of UKIP, the Independence and Democracy Group. He is also the interim President of a pan-European movement called EUDemocrats and aims to launch similar groups throughout Europe.

Mr Bond is still remembered in Malta for the help given to the Maltese Eurosceptics during the referendum campaign in 2003. He was against Malta joining the EU and openly supported the then anti-EU lobby headed by the No2EU group, founded by former MLP candidate Sharon Ellul Bonici and CNI led by former Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici.

Mr Bonde's group in Brussels currently employs Ms Ellul Bonici.

Petrina

I suppose now that he has his inflated EU pension he has to toe the line and not openly speak out against the EU hence his remark about building a better EU when he knows full well that such an option is not on the menu.
It will be interesting to see how all the eurosceptics in the EU Parl become neutered on leaving office .Perhaps the movement should never have become involved in this horribly corrupting body.

Anthony Butcher

Is there actually a reason he is retiring? He hasn't even given the 'I want to spend more time with my family' excuse.

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gawain

I have just spoken to Jens-Peter and I think I can try to answer you question Anthony.

He is retireing for a number of interlinked reasons.

Firstly he feels that at 60 he should be standing aside for somebody younger and more vigerous in the job. Hanne Dahl who will be replacing him is the 37 year old President of the JuneMovement.

He believes that by standing aside now it will give her some incumbancy effect in next year's Euro elections. It will also allow her to understand the job and help with her campaign.

He is going to work full time with his pan-European political party/group, the EUDemocrats. His idea here is to help create eurocritical organisations in countries (mostly the accession countries of Eastern Europe) where none exist today. His experience in creating a grass roots Euro-critical movement in Denmark will be invaluable in this task.

He has diabetes, and there is no doubt that the daily grind of the Parliament has affected his health for the worse and at 60 he is not getting any younger.

He has moved from a position analogous to our own, that is withdrawal to a more reformist role, and on issues such as transparency he has had some marked impact.

This is not the time to write his obituary, however for us in the UK we should remember that he single-handedly beat the Danish establishment in the 1992 Maastricht Referendum.

That 'No' vote had a profound impact, particularly in the UK when we saw, for the first time that it was possible to beat them (OK thery changed the rules - but that in itself made it clear what we were up against).
Four days after that No vote the famous 'Fresh Start' EDM (No171) was launched, 91 MPs signed it and it marks the birth of the new Eurosceptic/Eurorealist movement in the UK. The Referendum Party, UKIP and others found there inspiration from this man, for which we can all be profoundly grateful.

gimlet

Gawain

Can you confirm this is now UKIP policy. To reform the EU not withdraw, ie the tory line?

mrabody

If you read what Gawain said, he is moving from a position analagous to ours, that is, withdrawal, to one of reform. In other words, UKIP is still in favour of withdrawal.

chikrodah

If the UK eventually withdraws from the EU, it will need Jens-Peter Bonde's network of eurocritical MEPs to encourage the EP vote in favour of our withdrawal, assuming that withdrawal is after the Lisbon Treaty is in force.

There's no point in castigating the very people who could assist with our withdrawal in the future.

gimlet

I did read what was written and I think it can be read in one of 2 ways. One way is - that Bonde has moved from the EU withdraw position to the EU reform position. The other way of reading is that similar to UKIP he is now for EU reform.

Barboo

Been saying that for ten years, Petrina. There's no 'perhaps' about it!

Barboo

I also wonder how long his retirement will last?

In 1999 Jens-Peter Bonde was one of three June Movement candidates elected to the EP; in 2004 he was the only one. If the omens are not good for 2009, could it be that he thinks he will stand a better chance as a candidate for the EU Democrats which he leads, whose objectives include running in the '09 EP elections? As a pan-European party they also qualify for EU funding to finance their campaign, which as a national party the June Movement does not.