| From: | "Bruce Eggum" <bruce.eggum(at)gmail.com> |
|---|---|
| Date: | Sat, 20 Jan 2007 03:26:29 -0600 |
| Subject: | EU going non democratic |
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| show details
| 2:06 am (1 hour ago) |
-- Fwd: From: Cem Suleyman<Cem(at)openeurope.org.uk> Date: 20 January 2007 00:52:20 GMT+01:00 Subject: Open Europe bulletin 19 January 2007 openeurope.org.uk - 19 January 2007 Constitution officially back on the agenda: This time you won't get a vote ... The focus of the debate has to some extent shifted to the subject of how to handle the likely calls for referendums, should agreement occur at a political level ... ... Segolene Royal committed herself to holding a referendum on whatever treaty is drawn up. She also stated that a "social" element would be an essential pre-condition for a new treaty: "What I want, is for there to be a social side and for workers' rights to be taken into consideration in Europe." ... Royal's commitment to a referendum would be likely to increase pressure on other governments to put the new Treaty to popular vote, and her announcement was said by the FT to have been "greeted with dismay" in London ... ... If Nicolas Sarkozy wins the French elections in May, his planned mini-treaty - which would retain most of the key elements of the original Constitution - might escape being put to a referendum in France, but would be sufficiently controversial in the UK to generate demands for a referendum ... ... If Royal wins, it will be more difficult for EU leaders to reach agreement in Brussels, but the resulting treaty would be likely to be even worse from a UK point of view ... ... The UK Government argued this week that a new treaty is not needed, but also began to prepare the ground to argue that any new treaty will not require a referendum. A ... spokesman told ... "We think the best European Constitution is a simple Constitution. The result of a simple Constitution would be that we would not have to hold a referendum" ... ... Blairite Europe Minister Geoff Hoon said ... that there is "no requirement" to hold a referendum on "every single change in the treaty" ... ... The FT noted that UK diplomats in Brussels were trying to make it clear to their colleagues that they would only agree to a new treaty if it could be spun as not requiring a referendum ... ... Brown and his supporters fear that they could be lumbered with a Constitution negotiated and agreed by Blair, which would mean Brown having to defend Blair's treaty in Parliament, and face calls for a referendum vote he would be likely to lose ... ... Either way, the EU Constitution is back as a live issue. Brown clearly wants the whole issue to go away, but Blair's confirmed attendance at the crucial June summit and determination to secure his European legacy mean the Chancellor could be landed with some unwanted baggage by his predecessor ... ... EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson claimed that he had never been in favour of a Constitution in the first place, but would be in favour of the kind of mini treaty now being drawn up ... Mandelson said, "I don't think we ever needed a new, grand Constitution for Europe in the first place." He said that Europe now needed "a set of efficiency changes" ... ... Angela Merkel formally set out her plans for the revival of the EU Constitution in a speech to the European Parliament this week. She said that a series of global challenges made it more necessary than ever to have a common foreign policy enacted through an "EU foreign minister" which, she argued, made it vital to bring the EU Constitution into force. She stated that, "The phase of reflection is over. Our task now is to prepare new decisions by June. I intend to strive to ensure that at the end of the German Presidency a road map setting the way forward for the constitutional treaty can be adopted." ... -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Democracy Europe - D-Europe - supports all efforts to promote democracy and to build up a more democratic Europe. In all countries within, not yet in, or outside the EU. - http://yahoogroups.com/group/democracy-europe ------------------------------------------------------------------------ New Convention on the future of Europe: - http://democracy-international.org/new-convention.html European Citizens' Initiative: - http://democracy-international.org/eci.html European Referendum / European Referendum Campaign: - http://european-referendum.org/erc.html Network for Direct Democracy in Europe: http://nddie.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------ How to build up a succesful organisation - experience of Mehr Demokratie, also contacts to get assistance: - http://democracy-international.org/howto.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Political rights in the Swiss Confederation (on the federal level, in addition to those in all the cantones and communes): - http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/pore de: - http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/pore fr: - http://www.admin.ch/ch/f/pore it: - http://www.admin.ch/ch/i/pore ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Paradise is exactly like where you are right now, only much, much, better. --Laurie Anderson Never doubt that a small group of engaged people can change the world - indeed it is the only way the world has ever changed. --Margaret Mead |