The European Union, reeling from Ireland’s “No” vote to its reform treaty, has acknowledged that another member state, the Czech Republic, has a problem with ratifying the text for the moment.
“The European Council noted that the Czech Republic cannot complete the ratification process until the constitutional court delivers its positive opinion on the accordance of the Lisbon Treaty…,” the leaders agreed to say in a footnote to a final statement at a two-day summit, diplomats reported…
All 27 member states must ratify for it to take effect. The Czechs had sought to prevent any call for continued ratification after the June 12 Irish referendum defeat…
Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek — seen as less keen on the treaty — said on Thursday night: “If the vote was today, I would not bet 100 crowns on the outcome.”
Neither would I.
As Adam & John said in their No Agenda podcast, the main problem is that the document is unreadable.
If the EU wants a constitution, they should write a readable document, like the U.S. constitution.
Keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be an exact copy. And, while the U.S. constitution is readable, it’s still subject to misinterpretation and misreading.
Also, while many people have read the U.S. constitution, many have not read all the notes, addenda and related documents. Inf fact, the Bill of Rights isn’t even part of the original constitution.
So the EU could write a simple readable document, which would be accepted by the European citizens, and then have all the addenda and notes added later.
The nuances of EU evolution will be missed by most of us in the USA. Still, unions of states are always more effective when the federal core is stronger at the expense of the constituent states. This is indeed what we have seen in the USA, no reason for the EU to be any different.
I assume the same thing will happen in the EU as the USA. Weak initial union formed by promises and lies, the strong federal central power gaining strength until significant state independence is lost. When that happens, EU will be a major world player on par with USA and China.
Why they are stuck on the “all or nothing” approach is a historical footnote I assume that is not clear to me. The 24 or 25 remaining EU states under a strong federation could FORCE Ireland and Chzech Republic into compliance thru severe economic penalties as desired.
All to be followed by one world government for all the same reasons.
A preamble stating in one paragraph why they want an EU.
A list of things it is supposed to do
A list of things it can’t do
A list of rules on how it operates
Stop
If a smart fifth grade student doesn’t understand what is said restate it in simplier terms.
If a smart fifth grade student doesn’t understand what is said restate it in simplier terms.
That would encompass most politicians. They generally don’t understand anything unless money is placed in their palm.
At the US Constitution only had to be in one language. How many languages do they have to issue the EU one in? A dozen? What a nightmare.
#6, they should write the constitution in Latin, with all other languages translated from the Latin original. Then, if there’s ever a doubt about the language of the constitution, the translations would always defer to the Latin original.
And yes, writing the constitution in Latin is not incompatible with keeping it simple. Just because it’s in a “dead language” doesn’t mean it can’t be concise and well-written.
How much are those Euros worth now? =P
One of the provisions bans racial discrimination, but then says affirmative action is OK. They are trying to win political fights at the outset, and banning all dissent.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0621/p25s19-woeu.html
It’s disgusting how the EUrocrats are trying to ram this down the throats of the Irish people:
“Now, the Irish government has until October to complete its analysis of the referendum result and present a strategy for future ratification.”
What the hell is there left to analyze? They voted “no”! Analysis finished. It’s time for the EU to present a strategy for ratification, not Ireland.
What also gets me is that the EU bigshots always put forward measures that assume everyone will go along and vote unanimously to pass them… and when one member state doesn’t, all hell breaks loose and it’s “What are we going to do NOW?!” Don’t these clowns realize that no matter what measure you put forward, you’re not going to please everyone? You’d think they’d have paid attention to how the UN is so useless because they rely on unanimous votes! Idiots!
I’d say the odds of the EU getting its act together are pretty low. Leave it to the Irish to point and laugh in the process.
What if the President just said it passed?