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"Angela Merkel arrives at Passport Control in Athens.
"Nationality?" asks the immigration officer.
"German" she replies.
“Occupation?"
"No, just here for a few days"........."
As AEC says, the old ones are always the best ones..............
So writes Viviane Reding in an article which appears in the WSJ (subscription necessary), one in which Open Europe reports:
"In an op-ed in the WSJ, EU Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, Viviane Reding, writes that 20 years after Maastricht, Europe is in need of “democratic rejuvenation”, and she proposes a five-point plan for 2020. The plan includes convening “a convention to draft a treaty on European political union. Such an agreement should ensure that the European Parliament becomes a true European legislature, with the right to initiate legislation and the exclusive right to elect the Commission… From 2016-19, the treaty on political union would be subject to ratification in all member states by way of referendums. It would enter into force once two-thirds of member states have ratified it. Citizens should be given two alternatives: either to accept the new treaty, or to reject it and remain in a close form of association, notably by continuing to participate in the single market."
So we are to have a referendum after all, although of course not the one we want.
This move by Reding presents Cameron, were he to still be Prime Minister, with a slight problem right at the outset, namely does he participate in the drafting of a treaty on political union or does he politely request that everyone else takes a long walk of a short pier. Were Cameron still Prime Minister and still heading a coalition government the problem for Cameron becomes even more intricate, especially if Clegg is still leader of the Liberal Democrats. A third piece in this jigsaw can best be summed up with the words: God forbid that Labour were to win the next general election, in particular were MilibandE still leader.
From Open Europe it is also reported that that which Reding is proposing is echoed by Angela Merkel:
"Separately, Handelsblatt reports that at the same event, Merkel said that “step-by-step, European politics is merging with domestic politics”, and called for “comprehensive structural reform” of the EU in the form of closer political integration in order to overcome its “major shortcomings”. Specifically, she said that member states ought to be prepared to cede further powers to the EU, and that the European Commission ought to function more as a European government, with the Council of Ministers operating as a “second chamber” alongside a strengthened European Parliament."
One can only hope that before any such treaty on political union could become effective, we in the UK will have exhausted our stocks of ammunition for AK47s and also be experiencing a problem where the supply of piano wire is concerned!
........it is nice to have it confirmed. From Angela Merkel, quoted in the Guardian:
"My vision is one of political union because Europe needs to forge its own unique path. We need to become incrementally closer and closer, in all policy areas. Over a long process, we will transfer more powers to the [European] Commission, which will then handle what falls within the European remit like a government of Europe. That will require a strong parliament. A kind of second chamber, if you like, will be the council comprising the heads of [national] government. And finally, the supreme court will be the European court of justice. That could be what Europe's political union looks like in the future – some time in the future, as I say, and after a goodly number of interim stages."
The 'goodly number of interim stages' would appear to be well under way, as Helen, Your Freedom and Ours, posts. (Follow the link Helen provides to read the actual exchange in Lords Hansard). So much for the European Union Act! Meanwhile Richard North, EU Referendum, writes that "Angela Merkel, according to Reuters, has rejected as "unfounded" stereotypes about a domineering, dogmatic Germany.......".
As Captain Ranty writes - be afraid, be very afraid. However, to free yourself and your nation from a very nasty, very greedy, very unaccountable, very obviously power-hungry unelected group calling themselves the EU, first we have to free ourselves and our nation from a very nasty, very greedy, very 'unaccountable', very obviously power-hungry group calling themselves our government!
And the only way we are going to do that is by adopting direct democracy and 'referism'!
