And while we’re at it

Just so they don’t feel left out while we are being delightfully non-communautaire about our wonderful neighbours in our previous post, we thought we would add a kind word or two about our revered Belgian partners – or, at least, their prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt.

In an interview for Euractiv about a paper he has just written for the EU commission telling Barroso how to do his job, the creepy Verhofstadt is also asked what he would propose to his "colleagues" if the EU constitution was not ratified by all member states.

His reply is a classic of its kind, proving that – is if we did not know already – Mr Verhofstadt is not a democrat. "It is too early to say," he replies, adding:

We should all hope for the ratification by the 25. I do not think that it is productive today to start a discussion about what could happen afterwards, as this will create arguments for Eurosceptics who do not want to see the Constitution go through. I am a European in favour of a more integrated union so I do not want to give arguments to those against further integration.

The interesting thing here is that he obviously believes that the Community response to a refusal to ratify by one or more member states would be helpful to the "no" campaign. We would dearly like to know what he has in mind.