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C0ckney
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Big Up The Macedonian Massive
Apr 2000
time: 05:32
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these were the words of the leader of transvaal, paul kruger, when presented with british demands before the boer war. yesterday's new draft of the proposed european constitution should provoke the same reaction from our leaders, they want us to basically surrender control of our foriegn policy and our rights to decide on issues ranging from tax to social security and looking at the recent EU decision to allow france and germany to break the stability pact, it doesn't take a genius to work out who will hold the power in this 'new europe'. and you wonder why tony blair doesn't want to give us a referendum on this...
from BBC
quote:
EU starts constitution battle
Tough negotiations lie ahead on the road to EU enlargement
EU foreign ministers have begun a two-day meeting in Naples to try to narrow differences over a draft constitution.
The European Commission has warned of the risk of failure unless the 15 member states agree to compromise.
On Thursday, UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw all but threatened to scupper the draft constitution if states were to lose their veto over foreign policy.
EU president Italy hopes to reach final agreement on the text in two weeks, but analysts say this is highly optimistic.
The EU constitution is designed to bring it closer to citizens, and to streamline decision-making in the future enlarged union of 25 nations.
In addition to Britain's concerns about foreign policy, Spain and Poland are resisting efforts to reduce the number of votes they wield.
Small countries are fighting to ensure that each country will still have its own European commissioner with full voting rights.
There is also controversy about whether or not to include a reference to Europe's Judaeo-Christian heritage in the preamble to the constitution.
The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Barnaby Mason says the disputes make the task of the Italian presidency look almost impossible.
Small states' anger
The debate begins on Friday with the European Commission - the EU's executive body - having lost face this week in failing to discipline France and Germany over their budget deficits.
Diplomats say this Franco-German victory - achieved with the support of Italy - has soured the atmosphere at Naples, and increased the feeling among small nations that the balance of power in the EU is shifting in favour of the big countries.
Italy has floated a number of amendments to the constitution drafted by a convention under France's former president, Valery Giscard d'Estaing.
The proposed changes include allowing foreign policy decisions to be made by a majority vote - instead of by unanimous vote, as at present.
London said this week that any effort to change the existing system would cross a "red line" - prompting a UK veto.
'Unwieldy' commission
This and other major disagreements are expected to be left for heads of state to resolve at a summit in Rome on 12 and 13 December.
Poland and Spain insist on keeping the disproportionately large number of votes they were promised at the Nice summit in 2000.
Small countries such as Finland are resisting efforts to hold the number of voting commissioners at 15 - meaning 10 countries would not have fully-fledged commissioners when the union expands.
Opponents say that a commission of 25 would be too unwieldy to work effectively.
The foreign ministers, whose goal is to pave the way for success at the Rome summit, will meet for a last time on 8 December.
If the draft constitution is not agreed this year, talks will continue next year under the Irish presidency.
The ratification process is due to start in mid-2004, and the constitution is expected to come into force in 2006 at the earliest. |
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DAVOUT
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AUERSTADT
Jun 2002
time: 05:32
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quote:
Originally posted by The Viceroy
It was my understanding that Blair/Brown/Straw have all said that they will veto any such proposed pooling of Tax, Social Security and Foreign Policy ...
The EU usually works this way, they start with proposals as if we are the US of E, and then they get obliterated .. and whatevers left .. is adopted (which is usually not too much).
My concern is how on earth the EU is going to cope when we have more member states ?? How can we control the need of the veto (which is vital in many area's), and yet equally, the need not to water down things even more just to get consensus.
Any proposals ?? |
Regarding taxes and social security, there is no need of pooling at this stage, we just need to converge, which is much easier. But foreign policy is another matter, not that there is so much room for diversity, but because it would necessitate a spectacular abandon of (apparent) sovereignty.
The veto is not a really big issue. The reform was presented as a mean to make decision easier, not as a mean to make decision possible. It is quite obvious that when one country out of 25 uses its veto, a proper analysis of the reasons why they do so will lead to a solution of these problems and the retractation of the veto.
The consensus is a weak method for people not linked together, but quite efficient for people sharing strong interests. I see one problem in this respect with the newcomers who could not feel, in the beginning, that they are really part of the whole thing; but this cannot last.
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Bereta_Eder
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Viceroy for PM dammit! Vote him daaawrlings
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Spiffor
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CPA - Evil Clone brigade
Nov 2001
time: 06:32
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quote:
Originally posted by Sprayber
Why would you have such a position if it meant nothing? Is this an instance to provide welfare for out of work European politicians by simply giving a job to someone.  |
It follows the general ambition of this constitution: to unite all the mess that has been created by various EU treaties into one clean organization.
So far, the Common Foreign and Security Policy (I have no idea what the English acronym is) belongs to what is called the "third pillar" of the EU, i.e its organization doesn't share anything with the rest of the EU's organization. There is a man at its helm, named Javier Solana. The thing has basically no other use than to articulate European foreign policies when possible (i.e when there is a consensus among European countries, but when there are differences on technicalities), and to express the common European positions on foreign policy when there is one.
You'd hav heard much more of Javier Solana in January / February if the EU had a common stance over the war in Iraq. Since it didn't happen, Mr Solana's power was to call for European countries to try solving their differences. OMG these frigging Eurocrats have so much power! How is that acceptable for my nation-State !?!
The constituion attempts to bring this very powerful position in the "first pillar", i.e. the EU as we know it, with a Commission, a Council of Ministers, a Parliament and all this. It is specifically stated in the Constitution that any stance from the European minister of Foreign Affairs will require unanimity from every national government. As such, his action will be limited to unimportant tasks, like some intervention in Africa or somesuch.
Javier Solana's current post would disappear, AFAIU, so it isn't even a welfare position 
Last edited by Spiffor on 29-11-2003 at 00:07
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28-11-2003 16:36
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