The British government in March gained the initial approval of Parliament to give the EU at a later date new powers over economic decision-making, through a redefining of Article 136 of the Lisbon treaty.
As was confirmed yesterday (August 16) at the Sarkozy-Merkel mini summit, Brussels intends establishing central economic governance under the leadership of the EU president Herman van Rompuy. Ostensibly, this will only apply to the Eurozone countries.
As People’s Pledge advisory council member Douglas Carswell MP, among others, has warned, giving the green light for the creation of such a powerful centralised authority carries huge risks for Britain, together with other non-euro countries Denmark and Sweden.
A unified Eurozone voting bloc will be able to force through whatever measures it wants to, aided by the European Court of Justice which has the final say in any dispute regarding interpretations of the treaty.
Remember, back in May 2010 it was decided by the eurozone majority that Britain and the other non-euro countries must contribute to the bailouts under Article 122 of the treaty. Our government believed, in its naivety, that this article was only about helping countries that were experiencing ‘natural disasters’.
Whatever opt-outs David Cameron believes he has secured will ultimately mean nothing so long as the EU enjoys legal supremacy over us. Once he has given his consent to a new Article 136, the gates of the eurozone Gothic castle will clamp shut for all EU member states.
No consent
There is also a moral dilemma relating to this issue, but not one that concerns the current UK government, sadly: Should Britain really be enabling the EU to further extend its undemocratic control over the lives of German, Greek, Irish, French, Italian and other eurozone peoples when they will have no chance to give or withhold their democratic consent to what is being planned for them?
Remember, not one European electorate voted explicitly for the single currency project in a referendum. Opinion polls showed at the time the euro came into existence that a clear majority of the German people wanted to keep their national currency.
The legal instrument through which the new powers will be transferred from the member countries to the EU is Article 136 of the Lisbon treaty. When the time comes, the political heads of all the member countries, including David Cameron, will vote to change the wording of this article.
Blank cheque
As opponents of Lisbon have always warned, the treaty contains within it the means for the political elite to add new policy making controls to the EU portfolio without having to go through the lengthy and often politically messy process of ratifying new treaties through national parliaments or, heaven forbid, referendums.
This they are now in the process of doing. The Irish government is particularly keen to restrict the right of its voters to have a say. This will no doubt be tested in the courts by citizens demanding a referendum on what will clearly be an issue of constitutional significance.
It may still be that some of the measures the French and German governments want to force through will also require a new short treaty. For example, Angela Merkel has the problem to contend with of legal challenges before the German supreme court that claim that the bail-outs of Greece, Portugal and Ireland are unconstitutional as they violate Article 125 of the treaty which forbids paying off the debts of other eurozone countries.
While nothing has been decided yet, it might be that in order to overcome the objections of many German citizens, together with some politicians, Merkel will require an explicit re-writing of the treaty.
Miliband's opportunity
Even if this proves to be the case, our government has stated it will do whatever is required to facilitate a politically unified eurozone. Cameron will attempt to whip through Parliament, enthusiastically supported by the Lib Dems, naturally, any new treaty in addition to the beefed up Article 136.
It will be interesting to see how Ed Miliband plays all this. If he’s smart, Labour will oppose this Cameroonian chicanery and make common cause with the numerous Tory MPs who can be expected to defy their leadership on this. If this were to happen, it is not inconceivable that the government could be defeated and the Labour leader would be able to position himself as a champion of the rights of the British and other European peoples against the furtive, secretive political class.
If he doesn’t, he will confirm that he is just another dreary and untrustworthy political insider.
The good thing about all of this is that at least the fog is now clearing from the battlefield and a growing number of people appreciate what is at stake and that the stark reality is that Britain now needs to decide whether it is governed principally from Brussels or by those who are accountable to us through the ballot box, as in Switzerland and Norway.
It’s that simple. And this is where the People’s Pledge referendum campaign comes in.
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written by Marc Glendening
2 comments:
It is clear that Germany and France are going to take advantage of the euro-crisis and use their powerful position in the 17 Member State eurozone to press ahead for further integration. This in practise means a two tier EU.
Simultaneously, Britain's policy over the EU has changed and the Government is no longer attempting to be at the 'heart of the EU' and has accepted the two tier objective.
This has thrown up divisions within the ConDem alliance which can be exploited by those defending democracy and the right of nation-states to self determination.
This perspective is further discussed in the July-August issue of the Democrat.
Contents include the award of a contract to Siemens by the Government to the German based monopoly Siemens for carriages instead of the Derby Bombardier factory. The expected outcome will be thousands of jobs lost when it is clear more manufacturing and jobs are required. Such job losses will only make youth unemployment and future prospects of those who work for their living worse in Britain.
It is time this Government stood up for the interests of this country and its peoples rather than the EU superstate and those who dominate decision making and policies in Brussels, Berlin and Paris. The Government certainly should not press for more EU integration to be foisted on other nation-states and peoples.
John Boyd
en quoi ça vous concerne? l'union européenne c'est la france et l'allemagne et d'autres, les anglais ont qu'a sortir de l'europe ont vous retient pas! l'integration europeenne est le choix des autres pays d'europe on a pas besoin que les anglais se mêlent de nos affaires! sortez de l'ue et lâchez nous!
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