Another EUmyth bites the dust
January 9, 2009 by Ken
Filed under EU Ministry for Propaganda
The EU told us that the headline:
The draft European Union Constitutional Treaty threatens Member States’ national control over energy sources.
was a myth! instead the EU Propaganda unit offered the
The Facts:
This is complete nonsense. The current text of the draft Constitutional Treaty merely simplifies and clarifies already existing arrangements under previous treaties (most recently the Treaty of Nice). This in no way affects Member States’ choice of energy sources and in no way puts into question national sovereignty over energy resources.
Of course as we know the Constitutional Treaty was rejected by the French and Dutch so was re-introduced in the form of the Lisbon Treaty.
Now the EU president tells us that he wants “mutualisation” of EU energy stocks
There is of course no such word as “mutualisation” but we take it he means the creation of a European gas reserve, made up of British and Dutch supplies, which the EU will control.
The transfer of ownership would be enacted under the clause of the Lisbon Treaty which gives the EU the power to “ensure security of energy supply”.
According to press reports Jose Barroso said it was vital that member states show “solidarity” with their partners in eastern Europe. He added that he would soon have the legal authority to take over control of energy reserves under the Lisbon Treaty.
Comment: In addition to giving the EU new powers relating to security of energy supply, to be decided on by majority voting, the Lisbon Treaty would also create a new obligation for security of energy supply policy to be framed “in a spirit of solidarity between member states.” The European Commission has in the past proposed measures which would increase member states’ holdings of emergency oil stocks and hand control of those stocks to Brussels. The Government successfully opposed these plans in 2002 but they remain on the table. The EU treaties have never before contained any specific powers on energy policy. When it was first proposed that these powers should be created during the European Convention (the conference which drew up the original EU Constitution in 2003), the UK Government was strongly opposed and tried to get them deleted.
The Government said at the time: “This provision is unnecessary as all aspects of energy policy are effectively covered elsewhere in the Treaty e.g. single market, environment. In addition, we have detailed concerns on the text, which we consider may have the unintended effect of changing the boundaries of EU competence and the types of measure which will be subject to unanimity.”
