THE European Parliament is to establish a “rapid reaction force” to address what it considers to be unfair criticism of the European constitution in any EU member state.

The move has angered opponents of the proposed constitition, who say that the rapid reaction force is made up entirely of MEPs who support the constitition but is funded by taxpayers’ money. One leading Eurosceptic MEP said that the move was reminiscent of totalitarianism.

Jens Peter Bonde, a Danish Eurosceptic MEP, said: “It is a good idea to have a rapid reaction force, but you must have both sides to clear up real misunderstandings. You can’t have a rapid reaction force with taxpayers’ money and represent only one view — it’s a totalitarian tendency.”

As part of a campaign by Brussels, to combat Euroscepticism in the Union in time for a wave of referendums on the constitution, the Parliament has told its representative office in each country to monitor the press and note unfair criticism. MEPs will then be asked to write letters to the newspapers to put the record straight.

The European Parliament is also sending delegations consisting of only pro-constitution MEPs to parliaments in London and Paris, and last week spent €375,000 (£260,000) on a pro-constitution rally in Strasbourg.

Richard Corbett, the Labour spokesman for the constitution in the European Parliament, who helped to set up the new system and who is being paid €2,000 in expenses to promote the constitution, said: “There are a lot of occasions when people get things totally wrong. We will have a system going to pick out the stories to respond to.”

Jo Leinen, a German Socialist MEP who leads the European Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee, said: “Within three hours, or at least within the same day, we want to react to lies and distortions about the constitution.”

There is concern that one or more of the 11 countries holding referendums on the constitution may cause turmoil by rejecting it. There is a high chance that Britain, Poland and the Czech Republic will vote “no”, with rejections possible in France, the Netherlands, Denmark and the Irish Republic.

Each country has different concerns about the constitution. The Germans and Irish worry that it may lead to the EU becoming a military pact; the French fear that the EU may become too free-market; and the British worry that the EU may become a superstate.

The European Commission has set up a special “communications strategy committee” and is promoting a website to rebut “Euromyths” spread by the British press in the hope of winning the propaganda battle over the next two years.

Eurosceptic MEPs complain that many of the reaction force’s “corrections” will just be pro-constitution opinions dressed as fact. For example, the force will leap to defend the constitution if someone says that it will lead to the creation of an EU president, even though it will indeed lead to the appointment of a new high-profile and powerful president of the European Council for two and a half years.

It will also rebut the accusation that the constitution makes EU law supreme over national law, when national governments have already accepted that fact as necessary to make the EU work.

The constitution will be the first time that any country has signed a treaty making EU law supreme over national law, making it almost impossible for national governments to revoke this principle later.

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