18 Sep 2012, 3:12 pm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/se ... y-overhaul
This caught my eye this evening. It would seem that, not content with torpedoeing the global economy and consigning millions of their own citizens to decades of austerity for the sake of saving the Euro, our friendly neighbourhood Eurocrats are really determined not to let a good crisis go to waste:
So we'd have a common currency, common defence with a common army, common police force, common border controls with a common European visa, common foreign policy, common environmental policy, harmonised fiscal and taxation policies enforced by a common central bank and an elected head of state. At what point are these people going to have the honesty to admit that what they're talking about is the abolition of the nation state within the European Union ?
It's interesting to note that they also envisage 'streamlining' the decision making process for agreeing new treaty changes, meaning that no country will have the right of veto over these sweeping changes to their constitutional arrangements. Well, democracy is overrated right ?
I've always been a sceptic about the EU but at the same time I've always been of the opinion that we're better off in than out. At this point though I'd have to say that I'd vote to leave tomorrow.
This caught my eye this evening. It would seem that, not content with torpedoeing the global economy and consigning millions of their own citizens to decades of austerity for the sake of saving the Euro, our friendly neighbourhood Eurocrats are really determined not to let a good crisis go to waste:
Five of the six biggest countries in the EU, excluding Britain, have called for a radical overhaul of European foreign and defence policies to create a powerful new pan-European foreign ministry, majority voting on common foreign policies to bypass a British veto, a possible European army, and a single market for EU defence industries.
The German-led push, supported by 11 of 27 EU countries, embraces recent calls in Berlin and Brussels for a directly elected European president, sweeping new powers for the European parliament, and further splitting of the EU by creating a new parliamentary sub-chamber for the 17 countries of the eurozone.
While the call for a European army was not supported by all 11, the document also calls for a new European police organisation to guard the union's external borders and for a single European visa.
Nine months of brainstorming over the future of Europe by the foreign ministers of the 11 countries, launched by Guido Westerwelle, the German foreign minister, has resulted in a 12-page document crammed with policy recommendations. It will prove hugely contentious and, if implemented, will increase the pressure on Britain to quit the EU.
"To make the EU into a real actor on the global scene we believe that we should in the long term introduce more majority decisions in the common foreign and security policy sphere, or at least prevent one single member state from being able to obstruct initiatives," the document said.
"Aim for a European defence policy with joint efforts regarding the defence industry (eg the creation of a single market for armament projects); for some members of the group this could eventually involve a European army."
So we'd have a common currency, common defence with a common army, common police force, common border controls with a common European visa, common foreign policy, common environmental policy, harmonised fiscal and taxation policies enforced by a common central bank and an elected head of state. At what point are these people going to have the honesty to admit that what they're talking about is the abolition of the nation state within the European Union ?
It's interesting to note that they also envisage 'streamlining' the decision making process for agreeing new treaty changes, meaning that no country will have the right of veto over these sweeping changes to their constitutional arrangements. Well, democracy is overrated right ?
I've always been a sceptic about the EU but at the same time I've always been of the opinion that we're better off in than out. At this point though I'd have to say that I'd vote to leave tomorrow.
