So some cosmetic changes plus the wisdom not to ask the people again is the new strategy to build a Union of European Socialist Republics. And on the assumption that something as important as the EU can't be left to the peasantry to muck up, leaders already are lining up to rule the new EUmpire:
Will it be former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern or former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski?
After agreeing on a European Union governing treaty, leaders began jostling Friday over who should become the first full-time president of the union — and Blair drew backing from his successor and the president of France.
The leaders agree on the treaty. Who else matters?
I cannot fathom why we officially still support a unified Europe:
I've said it many times. Europe as an institution can't be our friend. European states can be our friends and I value their contributions. It would be to our advantage to stop supporting the European Union and work to get support from individual European states and supportive European citizens within those states.
I've got a bad feeling about this whole project. A new threat from Europe will arise again one day if this unification becomes a reality. We've beaten militarists, fascists, Nazis, and communists to preserve democracy in Europe. I fear the new bureaucrats will be the toughest foe yet to freedom.
UPDATE: More details:
There is a spectrum haunting Europe: the EU Constitution. Despite all appearances, it's not quite dead. Au contraire. After two identity changes, some face lifts and a heavy dose of make-up, the "undead" Constitution was first re-baptised as the "Reform Treaty" and now lives on as the "Lisbon Treaty". The final deal was struck on Friday in Lisbon, Portugal, where all the EU member states agreed that the new Treaty would be ratified by parliamentary procedures. No more referendums (except for Ireland and possibly the UK if Gordon Brown caves in to the Tories). The EU learned its lesson the first time after France & the Netherlands rejected the Constitution. Democracy is a bitch and it is better to keep the role of deciding the new shape of the European Union out of the hands of the voters.
Why the dull name "Lisbon Treaty" instead of "EU Constitution" or even the "Reform Treaty"? First, the name will simply join the list of the other confusing names of EU institutions and projects: The "European Council", which is the main decision maker in the EU and features a gathering of the heads of all member states. This is not to be mixed up with the "Council of Europe", which is a UN-like, human rights watchdog that includes "democratic", non-EU countries, such as Russia. Confusing? All the better! The populace of the EU isn't supposed to be able to tell the difference between the myriad of EU institutions!
The EU knows better than most that a lack of understanding leads to a lack of accountability. This is part of the reason why the EU Constitution has been renamed the "Lisbon Treaty", a name that is easily confusable with the unrelated "Lisbon Agenda". What is the "Lisbon Agenda" you ask? Well, it is another "bold" project of the EU adopted in 2000 and aimed to "make Europe, by 2010, the most competitive and the most dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world". Funny - perhaps. Ambiguous - absolutely. Confusing - most definitely.
In fact, the name "Lisbon Treaty" is designed to suggest that the new document is part of a series of Treaties all signed in nice touristy locations that have come to define the competences of the EU institutions: the "Rome Treaty", the "Maastricht Treaty", the "Amsterdam Treaty" and the "Nice Treaty". In no way is it designed to remind the populace of the failed EU Constitution (even though that is what it is).
Change the name, make it dull and confusing, and don't let the people vote on the new constitution. The continent's next generation of dictators and their minions are not storm troopers armed with panzers or Kalishnikovs, but gray-suited bureacrats armed with stifling rules that will choke freedom more quietly but just as surely. Your EU's concept of democracy at work!
Truly, a thorn by any other name.
