eurealist.co.uk

I tend to agree with the argument that the ratification exercise should continue, in the event that they decide to shelve the document, there should be an immediate halt to the anticipatory introduction of the proposals in the Constitution. It would seem to be totally undemocratic to proceed with these proposals if the treaty [...]

French voters in Sunday’s referendum were hugely swayed by the fear of their sovereignty being eroded, but there were other reasons too that influenced their negation of the Constitution.
For instance, the fear of large scale immigration from the former East European countries and its inevitable impact on wages.
On this point when enlargement happened last year, [...]

Now that the French have voted against the Constitution the leaders are becoming concerned about a domino affect on other countries referendums. In Ireland the Wexford politician Avril Doyle warned “The domino effect from a major country like France saying no would impact on other countries,” and In Holland Jan Peter Balkenende issued an urgent [...]

Jean-Claude Juncker “Many of those who voted ‘no’ were voting for more Europe. If some of their votes are added to the ‘yes’ vote, we have won.”
Mr Juncker please don’t hold yourself back, why not add all the “No” votes and all the abstentions to the “Yes” vote then the “Yes” vote would have [...]

A comment in by Alan Ruddock: in the Times
If Ahern and Jacques Chirac, the French president, or Gerhard Schroder, the German chancellor, or Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European commission, are genuinely serious about bringing the people of Europe closer to the EU, then they have to start to take notice of what [...]

From Denis Cooper
A good letter until the end, when he fails to grasp that some French and German citizens “of the left” may long for a “social France”, and a “social Germany”, respectively, rather than a “social Europe”, and they may even long for the European Parliament, European Commission, etc etc to simply vanish.
Citizens feel [...]

Something about question time has been niggling at the back of my mind since Thursday evening, It is clear that the pro-constitution argument is going to revolve around the two basic lies that MacShane was allowed to get away with, that the constitution gives more power to the nation states, and makes the EU more [...]

Reported in Le Figaro Valery Giscard-d’Estaing has said that the ratification process will “obviously continue” if France votes no and that, “What we’ll say at the end, is that those who have not voted for the Constitution, we will ask them to revote.”
The absolute incredible brass neck of the man, who on earth [...]

Eurealist :: Main Page: “View Article An insult to French and Dutch voters
by Eurealist on May 26, 2005 05:19PM (BST)
A comment on Margot Walltrom Blog from Hero von Esens
Dear Commissioner,
One of the many difficulties with the “constitutional debate” is that the constitution is a rag-bag of different measures. Whilst some of them are probably [...]

According to the Times this morning
THE leader of France’s ruling party has privately admitted that Sunday’s referendum on the European constitution will result in a “no” vote, throwing Europe into turmoil.
“The thing is lost,” Nicolas Sarkozy told French ministers during an ill-tempered meeting. “It will be a little ‘no’ or a big ‘no’,” he was [...]

Boris Johnson writing about the BBC in the Telegraph
“The corporation is a cultural and political anachronism, locked in a pre-1997 mindset. It is also, of course, rather wonderful. The reason that it is so immensely politically powerful is that its Leftist message is subconsciously legitimated by association with things that we love and cherish and [...]

Yesterday the EPP’s German leader, Hans-Gert Poettering, told parliament that British Conservative Roger Helmer was no longer a member of his grouping, a declaration that Poettering seems to have invented his own parliamentary rule to make. Later in a move that has been suggested was to save face for Poettering, who had also threatened four [...]

Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg and holder of the rotating EU presidency, told Le Soir newspaper in Belgium that he would act swiftly on Sunday night if France voted No.
He would appear with the head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, and demand that all 25 EU nations complete the process of [...]

England Expects: Here is the Conflict of interest: “Here is the Conflict of interest
European Commission President Barroso stated today that ‘No institution of the European Union can criticise another institution’.
Unbelievable. Henceforward there is no separation of powers in the EU.
Not only that but he also made it clear that no MEP can ask questions about [...]

As expected the MEPs have torpedo motion of censure against Barroso, European Parliament political leaders blasted the campaign to censure Jose Manuel Barroso over the Spiros Latsis cruise, calling the motion “indecent” and accusing its authors of political vandalism.
Barroso said the motion “crossed the line between democracy and demagoguery” and was aimed at undermining [...]

Eurealist :: Main Page: “The government’s dirty trick over the Referendum Bill
by Eurealist on May 25, 2005 11:17AM (BST)
Last night the Government published a bill preparing for a British referendum on the EU constitution next year. All well and good, except the same bill, entitled the European Union bill, allows for both the British referendum [...]

Eurealist :: Main Page: “View Article A COMMON corporation tax
by Eurealist on May 25, 2005 10:55AM (BST)
A COMMON corporation tax could be in place across Europe within three years, the EU Tax Commissioner predicted today. Laszlo Kovacs said those countries that currently opposed such a move, seeing it as an attack on their sovereign [...]

Ian Barber, Acting Head of the European Commission in the UK writes in the Telegraph about the grounding of Sally B. He says it is important to understand that the rules were introduced. After September 11, many airline companies found their cover to be inadequate and in several countries the state was obliged to [...]

EU CONSTITUTION NOT COMPATIBLE WITH DEMOCRACY
“Indeed, it is only the fact that we have a veto that gives a proper bargaining power to the UK.” - Jack Straw, quoted in the Times May 23rd 2005.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,170-1623972,00.html
DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT
http://www.democracymovement.org.uk
Media Release
24 May 2005
Embargo: none
EU CONSTITUTION NOT COMPATIBLE WITH DEMOCRACY; JACK STRAW VETO CONFUSION
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has today [...]

Israeli officials told the European Union’s anti-terrorism coordinator Gijs De Vries on Monday that Israel is increasingly concerned about a growing European trend to want to either establish or strengthen ties with Hizbullah and Hamas.
De Vries met in Jerusalem Monday with Jeremy Issacharoff, the Foreign Ministry’s deputy-director general for strategic affairs. De Vries arrived in [...]