July 15, 2005

Image of the Day

Fight to the Death!

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May 25, 2005

The Death of Democracy in the EU

"The countries which have said No will have to ask themselves the question again. And if we don't manage to find the right answer, the treaty will not enter into force," he said in an interview with the Belgian Le Soir newspaper.

The EU Treaty is not going to pass the referenda in France on the 29th. (It will also probably fail in the Netherlands and later in the UK). There is a large amount of public apathy and disdain for the EU and the response is hardly enthusiastic in any country when it comes to the UN. Every poll has shown that the public doesn't feel any connection to the EU and that the EU is not concerned for them, so in France they are going to reject it. Valéry Giscard d’Estaing who wrote the EU Constitution has said there can be no renegotiation of this treaty.

In a democracy, usually the government molds to the will of the people. If the EU were democractic it would mold to the will of the people. Instead the current President says that the poll should be re-run until the people answer correctly. It isn't the EU that needs to change, it's the people that need to change. That is no democracy.

The European Union Constitution is over 300 pages long, as opposed to the US Constitution which can fit in your pocket. People have no idea and no desire to read this entire document, they'll reject it because it takes a lawyer to decipher. The EU could have drafted a small document and passed laws instead, which is what the people wanted, but instead the EU went their own way and blame the people for voting against it. The EU is dying and the project is on life-support. It may come back later, but that depends on whether the bureaucrats listen and recognize that they need to be the Union the people wants them to be, not that the citizens need to be the citizens the bureaucrats want them to be. Time will tell whether they embrace democracy, try to impose the EU despite the objections, or abandon it all together.

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April 25, 2005

Quote on the EU Constitution

This 325 page behemoth is impossible to read and figure out. Imagine our own Constitution where phrases of sentences provide decades of debate. Now multiple that by 30. That's the EU Constitution. This quote I think sums it up best and why France is poised to turn it down (in even higher numbers now that Chirac has come out and stumped for it).

"I believe that it is fundamentally undemocratic to propose a constitution that is so difficult to read," Chouard writes.

From: Yahoo news - Weekly Standard

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April 22, 2005

The EU Falling Apart

"No" vote on EU treaty could bring chaos-Mandelson

I've been doing research on the EU military for a class I'm taking and this has particular relevance and weighs heavily on what I'm doing. France (without a big change) is going to vote no on May 29. The Dutch, who vote on June 1st, are poised to vote no as well but will be largely impacted by the French vote. The constitution (325 pages) needs unanimous approval, but could probably end run a small country if needed. It can't end-run France.

One of the interesting effects will be to watch the value of the Euro. Many have made much remarks that the Euro is outpacing the Dollar and soon going to replace it as the defacto standard. The Euro, however, is floating around it's lowest levels of the year. If the French and/or Dutch reject the Constitution, that Euro is going to plummet hard.

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February 8, 2005

EU MP Says Catholic Beliefs are Off The Wall

Senior Member of European Paliment calls Catholic teaching "way off the wall"

Urbana, IL (DMP), Feb 8th, 2005 - During a talk given by Senior MEP Glyn Ford at the University of Illinois Law School, Mr. Ford described Catholic teaching on homosexuality, abortion, and stem cell research "way off the wall".

The talk, part of a multi-disciplanary seminar on EU-US relations, focused on the EU Constitution and European Union structure. He covered several points regarding the development of the ongoing integration of the European Union nations.

During the talk he made reference to Rocco Buttiglione, the Italian who was nominated for the position of EU Justice commissioner but later withdrawn when his views on Catholicism came under fire. A compromise to place Dr. Buttiglione in another position that did not involve discrimination cases also failed. Dr. Buttiglione had said during the course of his hearings that he viewed homosexuality as sin, in accordance with Catholic teaching.

When pressed for further comment on the matter, Mr. Ford claimed that Dr. Buttiglione, a close friend and confidant of the Pope, was "out of the mainstream" of Catholics, despite the fact Church teaching on homosexuality is clearly defined and precisely what Dr. Buttiglione referenced. He further stated that his opposition of embryonic stem cell research (as opposed to adult stem cell research which is viewed to have no ethical problems) prohibited him from holding the position, even the Justice would never touch on the issue of stem cell research.

Mr. Ford also later claimed that opposition to abortion and contraception in Catholic countries poses grave problems for those countries to be integrated into the European Union. These comments further support the idea that Christianity, and Catholicism in general, is viewed as discriminatory and unwelcome in the EU and devout Christians need not apply for any position of noteworthiness in the new government.

Mr. Ford was the leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party from 1989 - 1993, and is a member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party. He is a full member of the European Parliament's committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy. He is also a visiting lecturer at the University of Illinois at Chicago. For more information, please see his web site at http://glynford.com/default.asp.
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