EU treaty '96 per cent identical' to dropped const

[synergy777]

EU treaty '96 per cent identical' to dropped constitution
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/articles/july2007/240707_b_EU.htm

EU treaty '96 per cent identical' to dropped constitution

Daily Mail
Tuesday July 24, 2007

The Tories renewed calls for a new EU treaty to be put to a referendum today as critics claimed it was 96 per cent identical to the dropped Constitution.

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said the similarities made it a "flagrant breach" of Labour manifesto promises to refuse voters a direct say.

A draft treaty was published yesterday and a three-month "intergovernmental conference" launched to come up with a replacement for the constitution thrown out by French and Dutch voters.


Foreign Secretary David Miliband insisted last night that the concept of a constitution "has been abandoned", making a referendum unnecessary.

But the Open Europe think-tank said only 10 out of 250 proposals had been changed and Mr Hague said there was "near unanimity" across Europe that it remained the constitution "in all but name".

He told the Policy Exchange think-tank: "It is our belief that this Treaty should not be ratified without the British people's agreement in a referendum for two reasons: first, because the referendum question goes to the heart of the issue of trust in politics; and, secondly, because such a fundamental change to powers and role of nation states such as ours vis-a-vis the European Union should require the British people's explicit consent in a national vote.

"Let me remind you what the Labour Party's election manifesto said: 'We will put it - the EU Constitution - to the British people in a referendum and campaign wholeheartedly for a 'Yes' vote'.

"For the avoidance of any doubt, the last Prime Minister said: 'What you can't do is have a situation where you get a rejection of the treaty and then you just bring it back with a few amendments and say we will have another go'.

"There can be no question, then, that if this new Treaty is, in fact, effectively the EU Constitution by another name that a failure to put it to a referendum would be a fundamental breach of trust between the Government and voters."

He went on: "The heart of the Government's argument is a near meaningless fig leaf. It is clear, then, that this is the Constitution by another name. Its effects on the EU and our relationship to it are wide-ranging and profound."

There would be a "massive boost" to the powers of the European Court of Justice, asylum, immigration and criminal justice policy increasingly determined at an EU level, the beginnings of an EU FBI and Britain's role in foreign policy gradually shrinking," he said.

"The British Government is left trying to rush through a Treaty they know is profoundly objectionable to the British people, as all polls show, as quickly and quietly as they can, desperately hoping that voters will not mind that they are in flagrant breach of their election promises.

"The 2005 Labour Party manifesto did not say that the Government would bring in 90% of the EU Constitution under another guise if another country rejected it before the British people had had the chance to have their say. Yet, in an act of extraordinary cynicism, Gordon Brown's Government is proposing to do exactly that.

"What does Gordon Brown think people will make of his talk of consultation if he won't consult them on a question of fundamental importance to this country's future, on which the overwhelming majority of the British people want to have their promised say?

"The answer is simple: trust the people and let them decide."

Open Europe director Neil O'Brien said: "We never expected that they would simply bring back all the text from the old constitution. All they seem to have done is renumber the articles.

"From this point forward it's going to become absolutely impossible for Gordon Brown to resist a referendum, because this is exactly the same text that he promised a referendum on before.

"If Brown now tries to carry on pretending that this is somehow a different document, it will be one of the most audacious political lies in the last couple of decades.

"It would be simply ludicrous.

"Despite the fact that it has not been made available in English, we have been able to translate the text from the French quite quickly because we could mostly just cut and paste the English text from the old Constitution.

"The con they are trying to carry out here is just stunning; this is the cut-and-paste Constitution."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=470630&in_page_id=1770

you know what the daily mail is changing, lol it has posted articles on mayan sunspot cycle, illuminati, and the eu. maybe middle england is awakening?

[synergy777]

http://www.propagandamatrix.com/articles/july2007/250707EU.htm

The EU constitution is back and more dangerous than ever!

DANIEL JOHNSON
UK Daily Mail
Wednesday July 25, 2007

Do you remember the European Constitution? Yes, the one rejected by the French and Dutch? That same European Constitution on which the Labour Government promised the British people a referendum before the last General Election?

Well, it's back with a vengeance. Like some old Hammer horror movie, the constitution has returned from the dead, now repackaged as a 'treaty'.

But the so-called 'new' EU Treaty has all the same ingredients as the old constitution. In fact, it was revealed yesterday that it is 96 per cent identical to the old constitution.

And so the response to this newly repackaged threat to British freedom and independence must be exactly the same: a referendum to give the people the final word.


As usual, our politicians in Westminster have woken up late to the full significance of the 16-page mandate that Tony Blair signed with a flourish at his swansong EU summit last month.
In contrast, the speed with which the Eurocrats have moved to head off any British objection to their power-grab has astonished political observers more accustomed to the leisurely habits of Brussels.

Over the years the EU, aided and abetted by our own Foreign Office, has given the impression that the process of what it terms 'pooling' sovereignty is inevitable. But the EU's notion of 'pooling' is suspiciously similar to what will actually renounce all individual sovereignty.

So, while our fresh-faced Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, was in Brussels on Monday to launch the Intergovernmental Conference that will decide the exact wording of the new treaty, the first stirrings of resistance could be heard in London.

William Hague, who has done a good job of stiffening David Cameron's backbone on Europe, gave a speech yesterday in which he renewed the call to 'trust the people' with a referendum on the new treaty. The Tories seem to have woken up to their duty to defend British democracy.

Similarly, the Commons European scrutiny committee has belatedly sounded the alarm at the proposed wording of the treaty that purports to tell the British Parliament what to do. The treaty text reads: 'National parliaments shall contribute actively to the good functioning of the Union.'

Rightly, the committee is worried that these words would be interpreted by unelected European judges to force our elected representatives to put the interests of the EU above those of the member states. Parliament would be reduced to the status of a regional assembly.

Such a loss of parliamentary sovereignty is incompatible with Gordon Brown's promise to restore Parliament to its past glory. But even if Mr Brown tries to renegotiate the draft text to neuter its proposed powers, other member states will try to block him.

And the more closely the Prime Minister examines the text of the proposed treaty he has inherited from Mr Blair, the more worried he should be. Apart from a few trivial changes in wording - instead of a European Foreign Minister, for example, we will have a 'High Representative' - the treaty incorporates virtually the entire constitution.

On defence and foreign affairs, for example, it reads: 'The Union's competence in matters of common foreign and security policy shall cover all areas of foreign policy and all questions relating to the Union's security.'

Meaning that its explicit aim is a common EU defence policy that would undermine Parliament's right to decide when to go to war: a centrepiece of Mr Brown's programme of legislation.

It is the same story across the entire spectrum covered by the treaty, from immigration to the environment. Out goes the free market and in comes the 'social market economy, aiming at full employment and social progress, with a high level of protection'.

If anyone doubts this treaty is simply the old discredited constitution under another name, they need only listen to an architect of the constitution, former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing.

He has admitted that the changes made were 'few and far between, and more cosmetic than real'. The term 'constitution' was dropped simply to 'make a few people happy'.

This time, not content with allowing other member states to accelerate the creation of the superstate, the treaty would let the EU kick out countries that rock the boat. It isn't hard to guess which nation the gentlemen in Brussels have in mind.

Britain still sees its role in the world very differently from its Continental neighbours. For all the bonhomie between Mr Brown and President Nicolas Sarkozy at their meeting in Paris last week, the British and the French do not see eye to eye on Europe.

Mr Sarkozy has no intention of giving his voters a chance to reject the treaty for a second time. Nor does the Dutch prime minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, who has ruled out such a vote.

So this time Mr Brown will not be able to rely on continental voters to save him the trouble of holding a referendum. If the British don't want to be part of a European superstate, they will have to force their leaders to grant them a vote.

That is why Mr Hague's speech was so vital. Unless at least one of our major parties is serious about a referendum, it is not going to happen.

But if Mr Hague can rally the Tories behind the cross-party campaign for a referendum, then it will acquire the momentum it needs to force the Government to give the people a say.

After all, we have come to a crossroads in our relations with the EU. This treaty marks the point of no return - the point at which the British must decide who they are.

Do they wish to be submerged in what the EU Commission President JosÈ Manuel Barroso calls the 'empire' of Europe? Or do they want to continue as an independent nation state?

The leader who dares to tell us the truth about the choice we face on Europe will transform the political landscape. If David Cameron were to put half as much effort into the referendum campaign as he does into more modish causes, he might soon restore some of his flagging fortunes.

We should be grateful to William Hague for putting the issue back at the centre of Westminster debate.

While Europe may not be a fashionable issue, like climate change or poverty in Africa, it is the key to all the others. Once Britain has lost the power to control its own destiny, it won't matter what other policies future governments adopt.

Already up to 70 per cent of our legislation comes from the EU. Unless this treaty is stopped, the nation that gave freedom, democracy and the rule of law to the world will wake up to find that it has forfeited all three.

It takes a statesman to tell people things that they do not want to hear. In 1941 Winston Churchill told the Commons the British people are 'unique in this respect. They are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst'.

Whatever Euro-fanatics may say about him, Churchill's instincts and actions were those of a British patriot - one of the greatest who ever lived.

Our leaders should follow his example, and come clean with the electorate about the extent to which the powers delegated to them by the people have been lost to Europe - before the loss becomes irrevocable

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/newscomment.html?in_article_id=470662&in_page_id=1787

[cruise4]

Even if they do agree to a referendum in the end, I'll bet it won't have the 'Pull out completely' option we all want. I hope everyone is hassling their MP's about this.

[synergy777]

cruise people don't even know about it, nevermind hassling their politicians

[cruise4]

I fear you may be right synergy777. It's a real dangerous move. I've asked about around where I live and the farmers seem aware of whats going on but thats about it. I've been on at my MP, but he's liberal and I quote...
"In Broad Favour of the EU without going down the federal route"

What an idiot!

[synergy777]

its pretty much a done deal, anyway, the elite know the masses are apathetic/ignorant and thus carry on regradless and have utter contempt for the masses.