| Author | Message | | ktholcombe | |  | | ktholcombe | | Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:26 pm Post subject: |
| The Telegraph
Lisbon Treaty may have to be approved for second time
Britain may have to approve the Lisbon Treaty for a second time if the EU grants Ireland substantial concessions in an attempt to persuade its voters to back it in a referendum later this year.
By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels
Published: 6:30PM BST 12 Jun 2009
A new Commons vote could prove explosive and would be seized on by the Tories and UKIP who made big gains in the recent European elections on the back of their opposition to the agreement.
Last year, Irish voters rejected the treaty which will increase the power in Brussels power and create a new EU president and euro diplomatic service.
They will vote on the document again this autumn and the EU is working on a number of opt-outs to offer as sweeteners in an attempt to get it through this time.
The Irish government is seeking legally binding “protocols” to the treaty to show voters it has won substantial changes since the rejection last June.
But legally-binding opt-outs would have to be ratified by a separate parliamentary vote in Britain, either straight away or when Croatia joins the EU next year.
In both scenarios, British ministers are concerned that concessions given to the Irish because of a referendum rejection might reignite demands for Britain to get a better deal.
EU officials and diplomats are now said to be tying themselves in knots in an attempt to deliver a “safe package” that will not require another Commons vote.
The British concerns forced the cancellation of a key meeting of EU ambassadors on Thursday and frantic rewriting of legal texts.
New documents setting out Irish Lisbon Treaty guarantees on abortion, the right to life, education and the family with a separate declaration on workers’ rights have been delayed until next Tuesday, just two days before the Prime Minister meets with other EU leaders at a Brussels summit.
“We must avoid a situation where guarantees to Ireland use language or words that could open up the Treaty in the House of Commons,” said a senior British source.
“If Ireland which held a referendum gets a better deal than Britain it makes Gordon Brown look pretty stupid after he went the distance to avoid a referendum,” said an EU official.
Micheal Martin, the Irish foreign minister, has admitted that countries, such as Britain, face their own “domestic issues” over the legal guarantees.
“We have to be careful that in getting what we want we do not upset procedures for others,” he said.
Britain is not alone in fearing that taking a protocol through national parliaments could unravel the fragile compromises surrounding the Lisbon Treaty, drawn up to replace the EU Constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.
The Dutch and Poles, who like Britain forced some limited declarations to dilute the Lisbon Treaty’s bill of EU rights and to protect scrutiny by national parliaments, also fear opening old political wounds.
Britain loses 40 national vetoes under the Lisbon Treaty which also creates a new EU president and euro diplomatic service under the control of a “European foreign minister”.
Margot Wallstrom, the European Commission vice-president, said: “We have to achieve two things – give the Irish the guarantees and the texts that they need and at the same time not reopen the treaty for re-ratification in other member states.”
Source.... | | | | ktholcombe | | Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:45 pm Post subject: |
| EU still squabbling over Irish guarantees on Lisbon Treaty
11 June 2009, 19:02 CET
(BRUSSELS) - A week ahead of a key European summit, EU nations are still arguing over giving Dublin the political guarantees it wants to persuade Irish voters to back the reforming Lisbon Treaty, diplomats said.
London in particular is unwilling to draw up a new protocol for the treaty in case it relaunches debate on the Lisbon text itself which Britain and most other EU nations have already fully ratified.
The British and others "are concerned about the perils of reopening discussion on the treaty," one European diplomat said.
"Certainly it's obvious to some nations, the Czechs and the Poles for example that there could well be difficulties, it's not just the British government that has concerns," he added.
Ireland's ambassador to the EU was scheduled to present the other 26 European partners Thursday with a draft protocol explaining the promised guarantees.
However the meeting with his fellow ambassadors was called off until next Tuesday, the eve of the EU summit in Brussels.
"The Irish did not want to put forward a paper that would not be accepted. Then it could look as if they didn't get what they wanted," another source close to the issue said.
Irish voters last year rejected the Lisbon Treaty, designed to streamline a bloc which has almost doubled in size since the existing treaties were introduced.
Since then Dublin has been seeking legally binding guarantees particularly on social issues such as ensuring the EU could not impose abortion laws in Ireland or influence its policy of military neutrality.
Ireland also wants a guarantee that it will retain its EU commissioner as well as the country's low corporation tax regime, which has attracted job-creating inward investment.
Several states are also concerned about a declaration Dublin is seeking on Irish workers' rights, a very sensitive issue at EU level where the emphasis is on freedom of movement for workers.
The Irish have said they want a legally binding "protocol" to address their concerns. Such a device, while not part of the Lisbon Treaty itself, could be ratified later alongside an accession treaty whenever another country, Croatia or Iceland, joins the EU.
However with British Conservative opposition leader David Cameron seeking a referendum on the treaty there, it is feared that this would reignite the whole Lisbon debate.
There are similar fears concerning the Czech Republic and Poland whose eurosceptic presidents are yet to ratify the Lisbon text, as the protocol would have the same legal weight as the treaty itself.
Ireland, the only EU nation constitutionally bound to put the text to a referendum, plans to hold a second plebiscite in October.
Opinion polls say the 'yes' camp will win this time round as the former Celtic Tiger suffers badly from the economic downturn.
Some countries are suggesting that the Irish guarantees could be included in a simple "declaration" in the name of all 27 EU nations.
Another diplomat evoked the possibility of a text similar to the 1992 Edinburgh Agreement which offered Denmark policy opt-outs and thus allowed it to adopt the Maastricht Treaty after an initial "no" vote.
http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1244739721.95 | | | | Diceros | | Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 9:36 pm Post subject: |
| No matter how many times we say NO ,
"They'll" keep coming back with amendments/rewritten constitutions/treaties, bring the herd inline according to "their" wishes.
Like it or not , whatever delaying measures WE take, a United - Federal Europe is inevitable.
cheers. | | | | Diceros | | Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 9:40 pm Post subject: |
| | What was it Blair said abt "us being in the heart of Europe" ? | | | | ktholcombe | | Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 9:52 pm Post subject: |
| Sarkozy says he'll visit Ireland to help pass Lisbon Treaty
By Fionnan Sheahan and Aidan O'Connor
Friday June 12 2009
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is offering to visit Ireland to help persuade voters to pass the Lisbon Treaty referendum at the second time of asking.
By contrast, embattled British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is reluctant to push the treaty through the House of Commons a second time if the Irish Government wins legal guarantees designed to allay the concerns of Irish voters.
However, the Irish Government is still confident it will secure the legally binding guarantees at next week's crucial EU Summit.
Foreign Minister Micheal Martin insisted the Government was "close to agreeing legal guarantees" on concerns raised by voters when they rejected the European Union's new governing treaty in a referendum last year.
"With the exception of taxation, our guarantees will be Ireland-specific," he said. "We have to be careful that in getting what we want we do not upset procedures for others."
The guarantees promised to Ireland at the EU Summit in December are on taxation, defence, the provisions of the Constitution on right to life, education and family and the solemn declaration on workers' rights.
The wording of the guarantees has been circulated to all the EU member states ahead of the summit, where the text must be signed off on.
The date for the Lisbon Treaty referendum will be decided by the Government after consultation with the opposition parties.
Mr Martin said member states were sensitive about the Irish guarantees because they were concerned about the reaction within their own countries.
But political sources say the British are "absolutely worried" about the treaty having to pass through the House of Commons again because of the legal guarantees.
"They want to be clear Lisbon doesn't have to be put through the Commons. They just don't want to be going back," a source said.
If the summit approves the guarantees, it is expected the Government will then move to hold the referendum in the autumn, most likely in mid-October.
Support
Mr Sarkozy said he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were pledging their support to the Government.
"Mrs Merkel and I will do everything we can to help the Irish make the choice for Lisbon. If it is of use, I would even be ready to travel to Ireland to support them," he said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said the Government appreciates the constructive role played by France in helping to address the concerns raised during last year's referendum.
"There are no immediate plans for a visit by President Sarkozy but, as always, we appreciate his offers of support," a spokesperson said.
Mr Martin and the Taoiseach briefed Fine Gael foreign affairs spokesman Billy Timmins, Labour leader Eamon Gilmore and European Affairs spokes-man Joe Costello on the final details of the guarantees.
Mr Timmins said it was important that the voters knew what the guarantees were about and stood for.
Mr Costello said the Labour Party had received "positive indications" on employment legislation that has yet to be passed by the Oireachtas.
"There were major issues surrounding employment last June and we want to ensure that we have our own house in order here at home. We got positive indications that these issues will now be addressed," he said.
Mr Martin also rounded on anti-Lisbon campaigners as he said parties opposed to the treaty "have no mandate to continue working against the best interests of this country".
- Fionnan Sheahan and Aidan O'Connor
Source.... | | | | ktholcombe | | Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 10:01 pm Post subject: |
| The Telegraph
EU security proposals are 'dangerously authoritarian'
The European Union is stepping up efforts to build an enhanced pan-European system of security and surveillance which critics have described as “dangerously authoritarian”.
By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels
Published: 4:32PM BST 10 Jun 2009
Civil liberties groups say the proposals would create an EU ID card register, internet surveillance systems, satellite surveillance, automated exit-entry border systems operated by machines reading biometrics and risk profiling systems.
Europe's justice ministers will hold talks on the "domestic security policy" and surveillance network proposals, known in Brussels circles as the "Stockholm programme", on July 15 with the aim of finishing work on the EU's first ever internal security policy by the end of 2009.
Jacques Barrot, the European justice and security commissioner, yesterday publicly declared that the aim was to "develop a domestic security strategy for the EU", once regarded as a strictly national "home affairs" area of policy.
"National frontiers should no longer restrict our activities," he said.
Mark Francois, Conservative spokesman on Europe, has demanded "immediate clarity on where the government stands on this".
"These are potentially dangerous proposals which could interfere in Britain's internal security," he said.
"The chaos and division in Gordon Brown's government is crippling Britain's ability to make its voice heard in Europe."
Critics of the plans have claimed that moves to create a new "information system architecture" of Europe-wide police and security databases will create a "surveillance state".
Tony Bunyan, of the European Civil Liberties Network (ECLN), has warned that EU security officials are seeking to harness a "digital tsunami" of new information technology without asking "political and moral questions first".
"An increasingly sophisticated internal and external security apparatus is developing under the auspices of the EU," he said.
Mr Bunyan has suggested that existing and new proposals will create an EU ID card register, internet surveillance systems, satellite surveillance, automated exit-entry border systems operated by machines reading biometrics and risk profiling systems.
"In five or 10 years time when we have the surveillance and database state people will look back and ask, 'what were you doing in 2009 to stop this happening?'," he said.
Civil liberties groups are particularly concerned over "convergence" proposals to herald standardise European police surveillance techniques and to create "tool-pools" of common data gathering systems to be operated at the EU level.
Under the plans the scope of information available to law enforcement agencies and "public security organisations" would be extended from the sharing of existing DNA and fingerprint databases, kept and stored for new digital generation ID cards, to include CCTV video footage and material gathered from internet surveillance.
The Lisbon Treaty, currently stalled after Ireland's referendum rejection last year, creates a secretive new Standing Committee for Internal Security, known as COSI, to co-ordinate policy between national forces and EU organisations such as Europol, the Frontex borders agency, the European Gendarmerie Force and the Brussels intelligence sharing Joint Situation Centre or Sitcen.
EU officials have told The Daily Telegraph that the radical plans will be controversial and will need powers contained within the Lisbon Treaty, currently awaiting a second Irish vote this autumn.
"The British and some others will not like it as it moves policy to the EU," said an official. "Some of things we want to do will only be realistic with the Lisbon Treaty in place, so we need that too."
Source.... | | | | ktholcombe | | Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 4:32 am Post subject: |
|
Financial Times
Sarkozy smarts at Cameron's snub on Europe
By Ben Hall in Paris and Joshua Chaffin in Brussels
Published: June 13 2009 03:00
British voters cannot wait to see the back of Gordon Brown but European leaders are hoping the prime minister can hold on to power long enough for the Lisbon treaty to be fully ratified.
"It is a race between the second Irish referendum and the death throes of Gordon Brown's government," said Alain Lamassoure, an MEP from the centre-right UMP party and a former adviser on European Union issues to Mr Sarkozy.
If Mr Brown's Labour government is replaced by David Cameron's opposition Conservatives, British voters will in all likelihood vote down the treaty and throw the EU into chaos.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, was asked this week about the pledge of David Cameron, the UK opposition Conservatives' leader, to hold a referendum on the treaty if he comes to power before it is fully ratified. The French leader's response was -telling.
"I am watching the debate in that country," Mr Sarkozy said. "I simply want to say that we have been happy to have Gordon Brown round the table with us because he has assumed his responsibilities and he has acted with courage by bringing his country with him on the path of European integration."
Mr Sarkozy's tribute to Mr Brown's "courage" on Europe spoke volumes of his low opinion of Mr Cameron's Euroscepticism.
The prospect of Mr Cameron's scuppering the treaty, which overhauls the EU's decision-making rules, is especially hurtful to Mr Sarkozy, who considers himself its father.
The relationship between the two centre-right leaders - both (relatively) young, dynamic and determined to break party orthodoxies - was long ago damaged by Mr Cameron's decision to withdraw from the mainstream centre-right grouping in the European parliament, say people close to the Elysée.
This decision is viewed in Paris as a snub to Mr Sarkozy, who pleaded with the Tory leader in four separate head-to-head meetings not to pull out. The move has also angered Angela Merkel, Germany's centre-right chancellor.
In a book entitled A European in a Hurry , JeanDominique Giuliani, who is close to the Elysée, quotes Mr Sarkozy as telling Mr Cameron: "We want the Conservatives to stay with us. It is important politically. If not, we won't work with you, even on a bilateral level."
The relationship between the two men broke down when the Tory leader invited his French counterpart to address the Conservative party's annual conference in 2006, but on condition he did not talk about Europe. "Nicolas Sarkozy was dumbfounded and enraged," Mr Giuliani wrote. "His anger towards the British Conservative leader has not subsided."
Even as he savoured victory in Sunday's European parliamentary elections, in which the centre-right emerged as clear winner, Joseph Daul, leader of the EPP group and member of Mr Sarkozy's party, could not hide his displeasure with Mr Cameron, and his move to withdraw Tory MEPs from their group.
"I think it will be seen as a strategic mistake," Mr Daul said, arguing that British legislators would be isolated in the new parliament. Mr Daul has insisted that "the door remains open" to any British Conservatives who wish to return. The EPP's victory gives the party more committee chairs and senior posts in the new parliament to dangle as enticements.
Some attempts are being made to patch up relations between the Conservatives and Mr Sarkozy's party. Xavier Bertrand, the UMP secretary-general, struck a conciliatory note, telling the Financial Times that he wanted to find ways of working with Mr Cameron.
"They are leaving," he said. "Things are clear. We are not cutting the Conservatives off completely. One thing is certain after these elections and it is that Europe is not socialist."
However, the Tories' continued promise to kill off the Lisbon treaty is still a strain on relations.
"If [re-opening Lisbon] becomes a subject of the national campaign, then he will be obliged to do it," Mr Daul said . "This would create big problems, and not only for the EPP but for heads of state and government [as well]".
Source.... | | | | ktholcombe | | Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 3:04 pm Post subject: |
| INTERNATIONAL
Polish and Czech Presidents to bury Lisbon Treaty
12.06.2009 11:15
Vaclav Klaus and Lech Kaczynski
British MEP Graham Watson, of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), has accused the Presidents of Poland and the Czech Republic of doing everything possible to ‘bury’ the Lisbon Treaty.
Watson stated that Polish President Lech Kaczynski and Czech President Vaclav Klaus have teamed up with leader of the British conservative party David Cameron to bury the Lisbon Treaty.
David Cameron has already announced in the UK that, if the Conservatives win the next British election and he becomes Prime Minister, Cameron will immediately write out the referendum to ratify the Lisbon Treaty.
“Kaczynski and Klaus are willingly helping him and can postpone the signing of the Treaty,” stated Watson, adding that the three parties – Poland’s Law and Justice, the Czech Republic’s Civic Democratic Party and Cameron’s Conservative Party – are working together closely to create a new conservative fraction in European Parliament.
The head of ALDE, the third largest European Parliament party with 104 MEPs, claims that any referendum for the Treaty that Cameron would organize in the UK would turn out negative and, “meanwhile, not only will the Lisbon Treaty fail but also France and Germany will demand that the UK pull out of the European Union.”
Neither the Polish nor the Czech President have signed the Lisbon Treaty. Kaczynski has shown signs of support for the Treaty and pledged to sign the document if ratified by the Irish. Klaus, however, maintains a stronger stance and declared the Lisbon Treaty ‘dead’ on the day after last year’s negative Irish referendum results.
Source.... | | | | DanielDives | | Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 3:11 pm Post subject: |
| Hi KT,
F*** Europe and the EU. You withstood the Romans and the Huns. 'You' don't need them. They need 'you.' Stand tall and stand proud. 'I can promise you 'nothing but blood, sweat and tears.' Funny, little alcoholic, but 'you'd be better off minding your own business and not have EU-central tell you what's best for 'you.' | | | | | ©2002-2009 WarWithoutEnd.co.uk |
