No democratic choice in the EU

The EU is launching a fully fledged foreign service, with missions to third countries and the United Nations, Euro-ambassadors, trade attachés, a diplomatic training college, the works. The fact that it is doing so without any legal basis does not seem to bother anyone.

So says Daniel Hannan in the Telegraph today “EU’s ‘illegal’ diplomatic corps is edging out our national embassies”
Hannan continues “It is true that the proposed constitution allows for such a development. Article III-296 creates the office of EU foreign minister and specifies that “in fulfilling his or her mandate, the Union Minister for Foreign Affairs shall be assisted by a European External Action Service (EEAS)”.
But the constitution, as you will have noticed, is not yet in force. Ten countries have still to hold referendums on it, and in at least five – Britain, France, Denmark, Poland and the Czech Republic – the result is too close to call.
Still, Brussels rarely lets a little thing like public opinion stand in its way. As far as most MEPs and commissioners are concerned, the constitution must now be implemented regardless of how the national electorates vote.”

The intergrationalist claim that they have the right because “The fact of signing the constitution in Rome has imposed an obligation on the member states, in accordance with the general law of nations, to refrain from any action that might impede entry into force of the constitution.”

This is of course is utter nonsense a Treaty cannot have force until it is ratified, and as the constitution is not yet ratified there is no legal right to proceed. The governments may well be obliged not to “impede entry into force of the constitution” but they are not obliged to allow clauses within the constitution to be pre-empted in this way.

Nor does this go only for the EEAS. Large parts of the constitution pertaining to justice and home affairs are also being implemented in anticipation of the voters’ verdict, while the Charter of Fundamental Rights is already being treated as a justiciable document despite the fact that only four of the 25 member states have ratified the constitution that gives it binding force

Not that any of this much matters. Says Hannan “The EU traditionally advances by extending its activities into a new area and then retrospectively legalising the power-grab in a treaty. It is a clever tactic; by the time we notice what is being done, the Euro-sophists are able to say: “Look here, this has been working informally for years, and you’ve never complained before.”

Last year Gian Luigi Tosato and Ettore Greco produced a paper in which they described the ways that the constitution could be pre-empted..

“The EU Constitutional Treaty: How to Deal with the Ratification Bottleneck”

Part Two;
Anticipated application of some Constitution innovations

In this section they argue that even though the Constitution is not ratified it is essential that as many of the reforms be implemented before the ratification which gives the EU authority to make them.

“There are three reasons why it would be advisable (where legally possible) to introduce some of the innervations in the Constitution even before it is ratified, first,
the reforms in it are urgently needed,
second, they could be facilitated by anticipated application
and third anticipated enactment of some reforms could actually facilitate ratification” In fact some of the innervations are currently the object of intense political debate in a few countries.

So from the intergrationalist point of view this political debate and any democratic choice must be avoided, and the best way to do this is to proceed with the innervations regardless of any opposition.

This mindset that even the slightest nod towards any democratic fancy must be squashed, or at the very least undermined by any means available, clearly indicates the unaccountable nature of the EU institutions, it is our democratic choice this is totally removed in the EU system of governance

Other
Suggested Innovations that could be enacted before ratification
Legal personality
Precedence of the Council
Minister of foreign affairs
Euro Group
National Parliaments
Inter-institutional Cooperation
Consultation during the legislative process
Defence policy
Space of freedom security and justice, Introducing mechanism for assessing domestic security and setting up a European prosecutor’s office Closer cooperation with the EU parliament on Immigration police and judicial matters.

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