Atlas Shrugs

Pamela Geller, Washington Times: Europe's Looming Demise

 


Check out my oped piece in today's Washington Times on the Euro-Med Partnership.

Euro-Med: No, it's not a drug, but it might kill you

Geert Wilders in a speech he made in the US last year:

The Europe as you know it from visiting, from your parents or friends is on the verge of collapsing. We are now witnessing profound changes that will forever alter Europe's destiny and might send the continent in what Ronald Reagan called "a thousand years of darkness".

Been to Europe lately? Thought it was bad? You ain't seen nothing yet. The passage of the Lisbon Treaty, hailed by President Moebama, nailed the coffin shut on national sovereignty. The people of Europe fought it, but were overwhelmed by their political elites and the loss of American leadership in a marxist, collectivist US President.

Lisbon Treaty II. The Face of Dictatorship: EU Preparing for Armed Gendarmerie Against Treaty-disobedient Populations

The reason why Americans have to care is because this global gobbledygook is coming to America.

Come January 1, a disastrous and suicidal pact called the Euro-med Partnership (Europe/Mediterranean) goes into effect with little fanfare or examination. It boggles the mind that such a consequential and seismic cultural shift could be mandated and put into play without so much as a murmur.

A conference was held to expose the mass Muslim immigration plan of Euro-Med by SIOE stop the islamisation of Europe (here)

"It was shocking to hear about the plans and at the same time knowing that Danish politicians and a cowardice Danish press – who is otherwise proud to be critical – has told nothing to the Danish people about this project which begins already in January next year. This also showed clearly at the conference. Only very few politicians showed up and no media. Those politicians who showed up had obviously never heard about the Euro-Mediterranean project."

Anders Bruun Laursen was presenting documentation exclusively from the homepages of the EU that the Euro-Mediterranean co-operation will eventually end up with a new Great EU, with borders similar to those of the ancient Roman Empire, meaning that the Mediterranean Sea will become a domestic sea within the new Great-EU. Already now it is called a union and the presidency will be shared between north and south. At present it is President Sarkozy of France and Mubarak of Egypt having this honour. And already from next year and until 2012 the possibility is being implied for goods and people to move freely within the new union. A lot of links were shown to EU homepages proving that Europe is to be islamized. Democracy, Christianity, European culture and Europeans are to be driven out of Europe. 50 million North Africans from moslem countries are to be imported into the EU. And against the wishes of the people, Denmark is participating.

The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership

The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, formerly known as the Barcelona Process, was re-launched in 2008 as the Union for the Mediterranean at the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean in July, with the new network of relations endorsed at the Marseille Meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Ministers of Foreign Affairs in November. The Partnership now includes all 27 member states of the European Union, along with 16 partners across the Southern Mediterranean and the Middle East.

This re-launching aimed to infuse a new vitality into the Partnership and to raise the political level of the strategic relationship between the EU and its southern neighbours. While maintaining the acquis of its predecessor, the Barcelona Process, the Union for the Mediterranean offers more balanced governance, increased visibility to its citizens and a commitment to tangible, regional and trans-national projects.

Excerpt from the Barcelona – Euro Mediterranean Declaration of 1995:
http://euro-med.dk/conference

The Euro Mediterranean Declaration was agreed upon by the EU, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Israel and comprises:

Comprehensive political partnership, among other things about:

1. Establishing a free trade area and economic integration to begin by the year of 2010

2. Considerably more money for the partners

3. Cultural partnership.

The EU Offers the Populations of 9 Muslim Countries Free Movement of Goods, Services, Capital and People into the EU.
In return for concrete political and economic changes the EU offers partners´integration into the expanded internal market of the EU and the possibility to obtain free movement for goods, services, money and people.

Association agreements have been made with all partner countries except Syria – which will be offered association in 2009. (Abstract of the 6. Euromediterranean Foreign Minnister Conference in Naples 2-3 Dec. 2003). http://euro-med.dk/partnership

Now, what does it really mean? It means the complete islamisation of Europe, unimpeded Muslim immigration. MORE than 50 million Muslims will be  invited to Europe in a far-reaching secretive migration deal, as reported by the Daily Express here:

A controversial taxpayer-funded “job centre” opened in Mali this week is just the first step towards promoting “free movement of people in Africa and the EU”.

Brussels economists claim Britain and other EU states will “need” 56 million immigrant workers between them by 2050 to make up for the “demographic decline” due to falling birth rates and rising death rates across Europe. 

The report, by the EU statistical agency Eurostat, warns that vast numbers of migrants could be needed to meet the shortfall in two years if Europe is to have a hope of funding the pension and health needs of its growing elderly population.

It states: “Countries with low fertility rates could require a significant number of immigrants over the coming dec­ades if they want to maintain the existing number of people of working age. 

“Having sufficient people of working age is vital for the economy and for tax revenue.” 

The report, by French MEP Francoise Castex, calls for immigrants to be given legal rights and access to social welfare provision such as benefits. 

Ms Castex said: “It is urgent that member states have a calm approach to immigration. To say ‘yes’, we need immigration … it is not a new development, we must accept it.” 

The proposals include the creation of a “blue card” system, based on the American green card, that provides full working and welfare rights. 

Blue card holders would be entitled to move freely across the EU, setting up home in any of the 27 member states. 

Last night Sir Andrew Green, of Mig­rationWatchUK said: “Eng­land, with Holland, is al­ready the most crowded country in Europe.

“As it is, we have to build the equivalent of seven cities the size of Birmingham over 25 years for the immigrants the Government already expects.  

“Yet again the ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy of the EU produces absurd results. These would be ridiculous proposals if they were applied to the Britain. 

“The Government must ensure that these work permits are not valid for the UK.

“Higher levels of immigration are the last thing we need with a recession approaching.” 

And Shadow Home Sec­retary Dominic Grieve said: “When ministers are talking tough about efforts to control immigration, they need to provide a clear explanation that national policy is not being undermined through the backdoor in Brussels.” 

The UK Indepen­dence Party leader Nigel Farage attacked the move as “an outrage”. He said: “The sooner Britain gets back control of immigration policy, the better.”

The proposals –  part of the Africa-EU Partnership signed in Portugal last December – also warns of the negative effects of mass immigration and calls for “better integration of African migrants”. 

It calls too for a compassionate approach to the eight million illegal immigrants already living in the EU. 

It states: “Irregular migrants must not be treated like criminals. Many risk their lives seeking freedom or the means
of subsistence in Europe. As long as the EU has a higher standard of living than those countries to its south and east, the temptation to come will exist – especially if there are jobs to be had.”

The declaration calls on the EU to assist African governments to set up migration information centres “to better manage labour mobility bet­ween Africa and the EU”.

The first was the job centre opened in Bamako, capital of Mali, on Monday. Other centres are expected to open soon in other west African states and later in north Africa.

Yesterday the Daily Express revealed that, in an apparent contradiction of immigration policy, thousands of migrants – like Kanoute Tieny from Mali – are being given up to £5,500 in grants by the EU to return home to Africa.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy wants to implement an EU-wide immigration plan by the end of the year when he stands down as head of the Council of the European Union.

This body implements policy proposed by the European Commission and discussed by the European Parliament. 

French immigration minis­ter Brice Hortefeux has represented all the 27 EU states, including Britain, in a succession of whirlwind tours through west Africa to help create a strategy.

Last night the Home Office said the UK had nothing to do with this EU plan.

A Border Agency spokesperson said the initiative is aimed at promoting legal migration routes in the Schengen area of the EU which the UK opted out of. The area includes most but not all member states.

And of course, in all this, EU Muslims Launch Rights Council

CAIRO — Muslims activists from 26 European countries have come together to launch the first rights council to enlighten European Muslims about their rights, monitor rising Islamophobia and defend Muslim rights in European courts of law.

"We think European human rights groups are not doing enough to defend the rights of Muslims," Ali Abu Shwaima, the director of the Islamic Center in Milano, told IslamOnline.net on Monday, December 21.

"Therefore we though that we need this new council, especially that all laws and constitutions in Europe respect freedom of religion and oppose all forms of discrimination and racism."

The Council for European Muslims Rights was launched Sunday, December 20, in the Belgian capital Brussels.

EU Muslims Face Growing Discrimination: OSI 1/3 EU Muslims Suffer Discrimination

Abu Shwaima said the launch was attended by activists from nearly 26 European countries.

The participants had formed a general committee to elect the council steering team.

The council would include four committees for violations monitoring, media outreach, governmental liaison and financial issues.

"We are now seeking to register the council with European countries and the European Union," Abu Shwaima.

"We have taken into consideration that the council's bylaw confirms with laws in all European countries to avoid any registration problems.

Bye Bye Europe: Czech Republic Caves, Last EU Leader to Sign Lisbon treaty

Another disastrous effect of an impotent Obama presidency. He abandoned freedom and American sovereignty, and so free nations abandoned their own sovereignty.

Czech president becomes last EU leader to sign treaty

Czech President Vaclav Klaus on Tuesday became the European Union's final leader to sign a bitterly contested Lisbon reform treaty into law after the country's top court said it did not conflict with the constitution.

The Lisbon Treaty calls for the naming of an EU president and foreign policy supremo and aims to speed up decision-making in the 27 nation bloc.

But it has been held up by two referendums in the Irish Republic, legal challenges in other countries and delaying tactics by European politicians like Klaus who oppose closer integration.

Klaus, under growing pressure from other European leaders, said he signed the treaty into law only hours after the Czech Republic's Constitutional Court rule that the treaty is legal.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said after the court's verdict, "I hope that (ratification) can be done very soon and I hope that Europe can set aside years of constitutional and institutional debate... and that we can move forward and deal with the main issues that the European Union must now face."

European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso also said "no further unnecessary delays should prevent the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty."

Last year John Bolton said: Lisbon Treaty will undermine democracy Telegraph

The Lisbon Treaty poses a threat to Nato and undermines democracy by handing more power to Brussels. 

Mr Bolton has previously warned the deal threatens Britain's special relationship with the United States and yesterday said he would not understand the Irish giving "more powers to bureaucrats."

He added: "The only people you elect have a very limited role and I think this treaty will further enhance the power of institutions in Brussels without extending democratic authority to people."

Speaking before he delivered a speech on transatlantic relations at University College, Dublin, Mr Bolton warned the Treaty could "undercut" Nato, something that would be a "huge mistake".

He argued that if the EU has its own military capability, people will think Nato is redundant and Europe "can take care of their own defence".

Last year Ireland voted no. Well one year later, Ireland caved. 

And now Poland. Clearly Obama's abandonment of Eastern Europe has sent Kaczynski running into the arms of the greater of two evils.

The Rise of Statism: The Lisbon Treaty in Striking Distance of Ratification

Back in June of last year, I reported that the euro-statists had suffered a crushing defeat when Ireland stood fast and voted against the collectivist manifesto -- Lisbon Treaty (here). But left-fascists won't take no for an answer. Here we are a year later, and with the election of the newly minted nobel-appeasement-laureate,  the world has taken a decidedly darker turn.

Why did the fighting Irish change their minds? And why, when Ireland voted no, were they forced to vote again, right on the heels of the last vote?

Last year John Bolton said: Lisbon Treaty will undermine democracy Telegraph

The Lisbon Treaty poses a threat to Nato and undermines democracy by handing more power to Brussels. 

Mr Bolton has previously warned the deal threatens Britain's special relationship with the United States and yesterday said he would not understand the Irish giving "more powers to bureaucrats."

He added: "The only people you elect have a very limited role and I think this treaty will further enhance the power of institutions in Brussels without extending democratic authority to people."

Speaking before he delivered a speech on transatlantic relations at University College, Dublin, Mr Bolton warned the Treaty could "undercut" Nato, something that would be a "huge mistake".

He argued that if the EU has its own military capability, people will think Nato is redundant and Europe "can take care of their own defence".

Last year Ireland voted no. Well one year later, Ireland caved. 

And now Poland. Clearly Obama's abandonment of Eastern Europe has sent Kaczynski running into the arms of the greater of two evils.

President of Poland signs Lisbon Treaty

Lech Kaczynski, Poland’s president, has signed the Lisbon treaty, leaving the Czech Republic the only country yet to ratify the controversial European Union reform plan.

“The fact that the Irish people changed their minds meant the revival of the treaty, and there are no longer any obstacles to its ratification,” said Mr Kaczynski in a short speech, adding that it was a “historic” day for both Poland and the European Union.

The ceremony leaves the Czech Republic as the last outpost of opposition to the treaty among the governments of the 27 member states, with Vaclav Klaus, the Czech president and an ardent opponent of further European integration making an eleventh-hour bid to gain opt-out clauses

Mr Kaczynski also poured praise on the former government, led by his twin brother Jaroslaw, which, he said, gained the necessary concessions that allowed him to ink the treaty.

The signing will come as a great relief to Poland’s pro-Europe government, which had grown increasingly frustrated with the president’s reluctance to sign.

A confirmed eurosceptic, Mr Kaczynski had resisted ratification, arguing that the treaty was dead in the water unless it received the blessing of the Irish.

But in the days that followed the second Irish referendum on October 3, Mr Kaczynski had remained silent on the subject of the treaty, fuelling speculation in Warsaw that he might further prevaricate in a possible effort to gain concessions from the government in a long-running dispute over the control of Polish foreign policy.

Attention now focuses on Prague, where the Czech constitutional court is deliberating whether the treaty is compatible with the country’s constitution.

With the chances of it ruling against the treaty low, Mr Klaus will come under considerable domestic and international pressure to sign.

The Polish president had  many issues with the treaty, the most obvious of which was  loss of national sovereignty.

So why sign it now ?

Poland and her people have realized they've been abandoned by Obama (though not the American people) in matters of support and especially defense.

All that remains for The Lisbon Agreement to be fully in force and mandatory for all 27 European Union nations, is the signature of Czechoslovakia's president (Vaclav Klaus)..... and he has a few very good reasons for not signing the treaty.

Klaus, a staunch eurosceptic who refuses to fly the EU flag at his residence, has repeatedly refused to sign the treaty, and on Friday imposed a new condition, seeking an opt-out on a key element, the Charter of Fundamental Rights. .

Kenneth S opines, "I have a feeling that if and when this Lisbon agreement is actually in force, three things may happen quite quickly..... One.  Russia ramps up their 'defensive' capabilities to a comparable level they had during The Cold War (which they seem to be doing anyway)....... Two.  Obama might just back off The European Union entirely, letting them fend for themselves in matters of defense....... Three.  If 'Two' happens, The EU may unpeg from the dollar currency almost overnight. Add that to the rumblings the Gulf States, Russia, China, France and Japan plan to  to replace the dollar as the standard currency for trading oil."

And while it is a very good thing that the Netherlands  government will give Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party an additional seat in the European Parliament if and when the Lisbon Treaty comes into force, the bottom line is, it's a terrible treaty.

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Background on the Lisbon Treaty: for anyone interested in the differences between the Constitution and the Lisbon Treaty, Richard Corbet now has a consolidated version of the treaties on his website, which has been annotated by Peadar ó Broin at the Irish Institute of International and European Affairs.

Media ignored Lords report on treaty

The Lisbon Treaty proposes the following, for the first time:

The EU will be a state
You will be a real citizen of the state
EU will decide your rights
EU criminal law will overrule Irish criminal law.
EU policing will overrule Irish policing
Many other area of legislation will be handed over to the unelected eurocrats in Brussels… More here

End of Nations - EU Takeover & the Lisbon Treaty

We set out to make a video about the pros and cons of the Lisbon Treaty and found out to our horror the lies, manipulations and deceit ... all » behind the EU. From MEPs, legal experts and EU researches the true nature of the EU unfolded, how it really operates from behind closed doors and away from prying eyes. We discovered the massive power grab away from citizens and nations to the elites that is being proposed in this treaty. Most shocking of all was how our elected representatives are willingly handing us over to this emerging Totalitarian Superstate by deception , propaganda and outright lies.

This video details how the structures of the EU really operate, what the full significance of the Lisbon Treaty is and how it is the end of Nations within in the EU. MEPs describe their experience in Brussels and how they are undermined by the real power of the unelected and unaccountable Eurocrats who run the organization. How the politicians are working together for their own selfish needs while being used for a bigger agenda.

These Boots Are Gonna Walk All Over You

... Today the European Union leaders signed the Lisbon Treaty. This treaty gives the EU the constitutional form of a state. These are the ten most important things the Lisbon Treaty does:.

1. It establishes a legally new European Union in the constitutional form of a supranational European State.

The Treaty gives this new Union a State Constitution which is identical in its legal effects to the EU Constitution that French and Dutch voters rejected in their 2005 referendums.

2. It empowers this new European Union to act as a State vis-a-vis other States and its own citizens.

To understand the change introduced by the Lisbon Treaty one needs to understand that what we call the European Union today is not a State. It is not even a legal or corporate entity in its own right, for it does not have legal personality. The name "European Union" at present is a descriptive term for all the relations between its 27 Member States.

At present these relations cover both the "European Community" area where supranational European law is operative, and the "intergovernmental" areas of foreign policy and justice and home affairs where Member States cooperate with one another on the basis of keeping their sovereignty and where European laws do not apply.

The Lisbon Treaty changes this situation by creating a constitutionally and legally quite new EU, while retaining the same name, the "Union". Unlike the present European Union, this legally new EU will be separate from and superior to its Member States, just as the USA is separate from and superior to California or New York, or Federal Germany to Bavaria or Brandenburg.

This new European Union can sign treaties with other States in all areas of its competence and conduct itself as a State in the international community of States. It can speak at the United Nations on agreed foreign policy positions of its Member States, just as in the days of the Soviet Union the USSR had a UN seat while Russia, Ukraine and Byelorussia had UN seats also.

The Lisbon Treaty also gives the EU a political President, a Foreign Minister – to be called a High Representative – a diplomatic corps and a Public Prosecutor. The new EU will accede to the European Convention on Human Rights, as all other European States have already done, including those outside the EU.

3. It makes us all citizens of this new European Union.

A State must have citizens and one can only be a citizen of a State.

Citizenship of the European Union at present is stated to "complement" national citizenship, the latter being clearly primary, not least because the present EU is not a State. It is not even a corporate entity that can have individuals as members, not to mind citizens.

By transforming the legal character of the Union, the Lisbon Treaty transforms the meaning of Union citizenship. Article.17b.1 TEC/TFU replace the word "complement" in the sentence "Citizenship of the Union shall complement national citizenship", so that the new sentence reads: "Citizenship of the Union shall be in addition to national citizenship." This gives the 500 million inhabitants of the present EU Member States a real separate citizenship from citizenship of their national States for the first time. It gives a treble citizenship to citizens of Bavaria and Brandenburg within a Federal State like Germany. The rights and duties attaching to this citizenship of the new Union are be superior to those attaching to citizenship of one's own national State in any case of conflict between the two, because of the superiority of EU law over national law and constitutions.

4. To hide the enormity of the change, the same name – European Union – will be kept while the Lisbon Treaty changes fundamentally the legal and constitutional nature of the Union.

The change in the constitutional nature of both the Union and its Member States will be made in three legal steps that are set out in the Treaty:

(a) It establishes a European Union with an entire legal personality and independent corporate existence in all Union areas for the first time, so that it can function as a State vis-a-vis other States and in relation to its own citizens (Art.32, amended TEU);

(b) This new European Union replaces the existing European Community and takes over all of its powers and institutions. It takes over as well the "intergovernmental" powers over foreign policy and crime, justice and home affairs which at present are outside the scope of European law, leaving only the Common Foreign and Security Policy outside the scope of its supranational power (Art.11.1, amended TEU).

It thereby gives a unified constitutional structure to the new Union which it will constitute or establish. The European Community disappears and all spheres of public policy will come within the scope of supranational EU law-making either actually or potentially, as in any constitutionally unified State.

5. It creates a Union Parliament for the Union's new citizens.

The Lisbon Treaty/EU Constitution makes Members of the European Parliament, who at present are "representatives of the peoples of the Member States", into "representatives of the Union's citizens" (Art.9a, amended TEU). This illustrates the constitutional shift the Treaty makes from the present European Union of national States and peoples to the new Federal Union of European citizens and their national states – the latter henceforth reduced constitutionally and politically to provincial or regional status.

6. It creates a Cabinet Government of the new Union.

he Treaty turns the European Council, the quarterly "summit" meetings of Member State Heads of State or Government, into an institution of the new Union, so that its acts and failures to act will, like all other Union institutions, be subject to legal review by the EU Court of Justice.

7. It creates a new Union political President.

The federalist character of the European Council "summit" meetings in the proposed new Union structure is further underlined by the provision which gives the European Council a permanent political President for up to five years (two and a half years renewable once) (Art.9b).

There is no gathering of Heads of State or Government in any other international context which maintains the same chairman or president for several years while individual national prime ministers and prime ministers come and go.

8. It creates a civil rights code for the new Union's citizens.

All States have codes setting out the rights of their citizens. The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights will be that. It will be made legally binding by the new Treaty and will be an essential part of the new Union's constitutional structure (Art.6, amended TEU).

The Charter is stated to be binding on the Union's own institutions and on Member States in implementing Union law. This limitation to EU law and to the EU institutions is unrealistic however, because

(a) the principles of primacy and uniformity of Union law mean that Member States will not only be bound by the Fundamental Rights Charter when implementing EU law, but also through the "interpretation and application of their national laws in conformity with Union laws" (v. ECJ judgements in the Factortame, Simmenthal and other law cases); and because

(b) the Charter sets out fundamental rights in areas in which the Union has currently no competence, e.g. outlawing the death penalty, asserting citizens' rights in criminal proceedings and various other areas.

9. It makes national Parliaments subordinate to the new Union.

The Treaty underlines the subordinate role of National Parliaments in the constitutional structure of the new Union by stating that "National Parliaments shall contribute actively to the good functioning of the Union" by various means set out in Article 8c, amended TEU. The imperative "shall" implies an obligation on National Parliaments to further the interests of the new Union.

National Parliaments have in any case already lost most of their law-making powers to the EC/EU. The citizens who elect them have lost their powers to decide these laws too.

10. It gives the new Union self-empowerment powers.

In conclusion:

If there were to be a European Federation that is democratic and acceptable, the minimum constitutional requirement for it would be that its laws would be initiated and approved by the directly elected representatives of the people either in the European Parliament or the National Parliaments. Unfortunately, neither the Lisbon Treaty nor the EU Constitution it establishes contain any such proposal.

By giving a Constitution indirectly rather than directly to the new European Union which it will establish, the Lisbon Treaty sets in place what Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt has called the "capstone of a European Federal State". For the Euro-federalist political elites who have been driving this process over decades this is the culmination of what started nearly 60 years ago when the 1950 Schuman Declaration, which is commemorated annually on 9 May, Europe Day, proclaimed the European Coal and Steel Community to be the "first step in the federation of Europe".

The peoples of Europe do not want this kind of highly centralized Federal European Union whose most striking feature is that it is run virtually entirely by committees of politicians, bureaucrats and judges, none of whom are directly elected by the people. The Constitutional Treaty setting it up has already been rejected by the French and the Dutch in 2005. As French President Nicolas Sarkozy has admitted, the Prime Ministers and Presidents have agreed among themselves on no account to have referendums on the Renamed Constitutional Treaty, for that would be rejected everywhere again.

Only the Irish are enabled to have their say on it because of the constitutional case taken before the Supreme Court by the late Raymond Crotty. That action by that great Irishman stopped the State's politicians of that time from ratifying a previous European Treaty, the Single European Act, in an unconstitutional manner.

End of Nations - EU Takeover & the Lisbon Treaty

We set out to make a video about the pros and cons of the Lisbon Treaty and found out to our horror the lies, manipulations and deceit ... all » behind the EU. From MEPs, legal experts and EU researches the true nature of the EU unfolded, how it really operates from behind closed doors and away from prying eyes. We discovered the massive power grab away from citizens and nations to the elites that is being proposed in this treaty. Most shocking of all was how our elected representatives are willingly handing us over to this emerging Totalitarian Superstate by deception , propaganda and outright lies.

This video details how the structures of the EU really operate, what the full significance of the Lisbon Treaty is and how it is the end of Nations within in the EU. MEPs describe their experience in Brussels and how they are undermined by the real power of the unelected and unaccountable Eurocrats who run the organization. How the politicians are working together for their own selfish needs while being used for a bigger agenda.

These Boots Are Gonna Walk All Over You

... Today the European Union leaders signed the Lisbon Treaty. This treaty gives the EU the constitutional form of a state. These are the ten most important things the Lisbon Treaty does:.

1. It establishes a legally new European Union in the constitutional form of a supranational European State.

The Treaty gives this new Union a State Constitution which is identical in its legal effects to the EU Constitution that French and Dutch voters rejected in their 2005 referendums.

2. It empowers this new European Union to act as a State vis-a-vis other States and its own citizens.

To understand the change introduced by the Lisbon Treaty one needs to understand that what we call the European Union today is not a State. It is not even a legal or corporate entity in its own right, for it does not have legal personality. The name "European Union" at present is a descriptive term for all the relations between its 27 Member States.

At present these relations cover both the "European Community" area where supranational European law is operative, and the "intergovernmental" areas of foreign policy and justice and home affairs where Member States cooperate with one another on the basis of keeping their sovereignty and where European laws do not apply.

The Lisbon Treaty changes this situation by creating a constitutionally and legally quite new EU, while retaining the same name, the "Union". Unlike the present European Union, this legally new EU will be separate from and superior to its Member States, just as the USA is separate from and superior to California or New York, or Federal Germany to Bavaria or Brandenburg.

This new European Union can sign treaties with other States in all areas of its competence and conduct itself as a State in the international community of States. It can speak at the United Nations on agreed foreign policy positions of its Member States, just as in the days of the Soviet Union the USSR had a UN seat while Russia, Ukraine and Byelorussia had UN seats also.

The Lisbon Treaty also gives the EU a political President, a Foreign Minister – to be called a High Representative – a diplomatic corps and a Public Prosecutor. The new EU will accede to the European Convention on Human Rights, as all other European States have already done, including those outside the EU.

3. It makes us all citizens of this new European Union.

A State must have citizens and one can only be a citizen of a State.

Citizenship of the European Union at present is stated to "complement" national citizenship, the latter being clearly primary, not least because the present EU is not a State. It is not even a corporate entity that can have individuals as members, not to mind citizens.

By transforming the legal character of the Union, the Lisbon Treaty transforms the meaning of Union citizenship. Article.17b.1 TEC/TFU replace the word "complement" in the sentence "Citizenship of the Union shall complement national citizenship", so that the new sentence reads: "Citizenship of the Union shall be in addition to national citizenship." This gives the 500 million inhabitants of the present EU Member States a real separate citizenship from citizenship of their national States for the first time. It gives a treble citizenship to citizens of Bavaria and Brandenburg within a Federal State like Germany. The rights and duties attaching to this citizenship of the new Union are be superior to those attaching to citizenship of one's own national State in any case of conflict between the two, because of the superiority of EU law over national law and constitutions.

4. To hide the enormity of the change, the same name – European Union – will be kept while the Lisbon Treaty changes fundamentally the legal and constitutional nature of the Union.

The change in the constitutional nature of both the Union and its Member States will be made in three legal steps that are set out in the Treaty:

(a) It establishes a European Union with an entire legal personality and independent corporate existence in all Union areas for the first time, so that it can function as a State vis-a-vis other States and in relation to its own citizens (Art.32, amended TEU);

(b) This new European Union replaces the existing European Community and takes over all of its powers and institutions. It takes over as well the "intergovernmental" powers over foreign policy and crime, justice and home affairs which at present are outside the scope of European law, leaving only the Common Foreign and Security Policy outside the scope of its supranational power (Art.11.1, amended TEU).

It thereby gives a unified constitutional structure to the new Union which it will constitute or establish. The European Community disappears and all spheres of public policy will come within the scope of supranational EU law-making either actually or potentially, as in any constitutionally unified State.

5. It creates a Union Parliament for the Union's new citizens.

The Lisbon Treaty/EU Constitution makes Members of the European Parliament, who at present are "representatives of the peoples of the Member States", into "representatives of the Union's citizens" (Art.9a, amended TEU). This illustrates the constitutional shift the Treaty makes from the present European Union of national States and peoples to the new Federal Union of European citizens and their national states – the latter henceforth reduced constitutionally and politically to provincial or regional status.

6. It creates a Cabinet Government of the new Union.

he Treaty turns the European Council, the quarterly "summit" meetings of Member State Heads of State or Government, into an institution of the new Union, so that its acts and failures to act will, like all other Union institutions, be subject to legal review by the EU Court of Justice.

7. It creates a new Union political President.

The federalist character of the European Council "summit" meetings in the proposed new Union structure is further underlined by the provision which gives the European Council a permanent political President for up to five years (two and a half years renewable once) (Art.9b).

There is no gathering of Heads of State or Government in any other international context which maintains the same chairman or president for several years while individual national prime ministers and prime ministers come and go.

8. It creates a civil rights code for the new Union's citizens.

All States have codes setting out the rights of their citizens. The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights will be that. It will be made legally binding by the new Treaty and will be an essential part of the new Union's constitutional structure (Art.6, amended TEU).

The Charter is stated to be binding on the Union's own institutions and on Member States in implementing Union law. This limitation to EU law and to the EU institutions is unrealistic however, because

(a) the principles of primacy and uniformity of Union law mean that Member States will not only be bound by the Fundamental Rights Charter when implementing EU law, but also through the "interpretation and application of their national laws in conformity with Union laws" (v. ECJ judgements in the Factortame, Simmenthal and other law cases); and because

(b) the Charter sets out fundamental rights in areas in which the Union has currently no competence, e.g. outlawing the death penalty, asserting citizens' rights in criminal proceedings and various other areas.

9. It makes national Parliaments subordinate to the new Union.

The Treaty underlines the subordinate role of National Parliaments in the constitutional structure of the new Union by stating that "National Parliaments shall contribute actively to the good functioning of the Union" by various means set out in Article 8c, amended TEU. The imperative "shall" implies an obligation on National Parliaments to further the interests of the new Union.

National Parliaments have in any case already lost most of their law-making powers to the EC/EU. The citizens who elect them have lost their powers to decide these laws too.

10. It gives the new Union self-empowerment powers.

In conclusion:

If there were to be a European Federation that is democratic and acceptable, the minimum constitutional requirement for it would be that its laws would be initiated and approved by the directly elected representatives of the people either in the European Parliament or the National Parliaments. Unfortunately, neither the Lisbon Treaty nor the EU Constitution it establishes contain any such proposal.

By giving a Constitution indirectly rather than directly to the new European Union which it will establish, the Lisbon Treaty sets in place what Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt has called the "capstone of a European Federal State". For the Euro-federalist political elites who have been driving this process over decades this is the culmination of what started nearly 60 years ago when the 1950 Schuman Declaration, which is commemorated annually on 9 May, Europe Day, proclaimed the European Coal and Steel Community to be the "first step in the federation of Europe".

The peoples of Europe do not want this kind of highly centralized Federal European Union whose most striking feature is that it is run virtually entirely by committees of politicians, bureaucrats and judges, none of whom are directly elected by the people. The Constitutional Treaty setting it up has already been rejected by the French and the Dutch in 2005. As French President Nicolas Sarkozy has admitted, the Prime Ministers and Presidents have agreed among themselves on no account to have referendums on the Renamed Constitutional Treaty, for that would be rejected everywhere again.

Only the Irish are enabled to have their say on it because of the constitutional case taken before the Supreme Court by the late Raymond Crotty. That action by that great Irishman stopped the State's politicians of that time from ratifying a previous European Treaty, the Single European Act, in an unconstitutional manner.

BOLTON EFFECT: LISBON TREATY DEFEATED

He spoke, the fighting Irish listened. Good on them. A victory for freedom loving, rugged individualists!

Signs of Euro-Lisbon Treaty Defeat Already Showing....... TUNDRA TABLOIDS

Excellent! The Euro-Weenies are already starting to wail over the early results of the Irish vote on the treaty.

CNN: Politicians from the government and major opposition parties -- all of whom campaigned for the treaty's ratification -- appeared uniformly grim-faced Friday as counting progressed in 43 constituencies nationwide.

"I do not see how we're going to claw back our position based on the numbers I'm seeing. It's going pretty much all the way of the `no' camp," said Pat Rabbitte, former leader of the opposition Labour Party.

"Claw" - how appropriate.

And anti-EU activists expressed growing confidence they would triumph when official results are declared Friday afternoon.
"People felt a convincing case for the treaty had not been made, and they felt hectored and bullied into supporting it while the wool was being pulled over their eyes," said Richard Boyd Barrett, leader of a hard-left pressure group called People Before Profit.

No official results were available. However, Ireland's legions of "tallymen" -- seasoned political activists who observe the ballot counting and provide reports to their own parties and pressure groups -- said the "no" camp appeared well in the lead in rural and urban working-class areas.

The lying media said at first it was a sure win and then it was a dead hear. Media polls are mendacious, aenda driven tools. Remember that Obambi.

Tallymen and other observers said the pro-treaty vote appeared to be holding up only in Dublin's more middle-class districts. But even there, they said, the "yes" votes were barely running neck and neck with the "nos."

Heh heh heh......excellent. *L* KGS

UPDATE: Post Mortem!!!!!!!!!

Dublin - Ireland had already moved into "post-mortem" phase by midday Friday as unofficial tallies, known for their accuracy, showed that the European Union's Lisbon Treaty was in for a thrashing in the referendum. Leader of the Libertas group, which spearheaded the no campaign, Declan Ganley said that it was "a great and proud day to be Irish."

UPDATE: Morgan weighs in here:Fighting the United States of Europe, Part 4: Ireland defeats Lisbon!

 

BOLTON FIGHTS THE ONE WORLDERS: SAY NO TO LISBON TREATY

The political elites in Europe mean to have their way despite the will of the pople. The people voted down the EU constitution but that won't stop the Europpeasers. They will circumvent what the people want with the imposition of the Lisbon Treaty. They sugarcoat the cyanide pill and tell the people to eat up. Thank G-d John Bolton gives a rat's ass about them. He went over there. He explained. Let's hope the good folks listen.

John Bolton: Lisbon Treaty will undermine democracy Telegraph

The Lisbon Treaty poses a threat to Nato and undermines democracy by handing more power to Brussels, a former senior advisor to President George W Bush has warned.

John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the UN who served under Ronald Reagan and George Bush senior, said the new Treaty could hurt the military alliance between Europe and the US.

He was speaking only days before Ireland hold a referendum on the EU Treaty, the only member country to do so, with the latest polls showing the Yes campaign slightly ahead.

But an Irish vote No on Thursday will mean the Treaty, which abolishes dozens of national vetoes and creates the new post of EU president, cannot come into force in any of the 27 member states.

I like the sweater.... very 'father knows best.'

Mr Bolton has previously warned the deal threatens Britain's special relationship with the United States and yesterday said he would not understand the Irish giving "more powers to bureaucrats."

He added: "The only people you elect have a very limited role and I think this treaty will further enhance the power of institutions in Brussels without extending democratic authority to people."

Speaking before he delivered a speech on transatlantic relations at University College, Dublin, Mr Bolton warned the Treaty could "undercut" Nato, something that would be a "huge mistake".

He argued that if the EU has its own military capability, people will think Nato is redundant and Europe "can take care of their own defence".

The latest referendum opinion poll, published by the Sunday Business Post yesterday, indicated a tight contest with the Yes vote at 42 per cent compared to 39 per cent for the No campaign.

The result is a blow for those opposed to the Treaty  a similar poll conducted on Friday gave them a five-point lead  but the overall trend is a surging No vote.

Gordon Brown has said Britain will not get a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, although the House of Lords will vote on this decision this week.

But Stuart Wheeler, the millionaire businessman and major Conservative donor, will today (mon) begin a High Court challenge, attempting to force the Prime Minister to call a public vote.

Previously at Atlas: Atlas Shrugs: LISBON TREATY: END OF NATIONS, RISE OF STATISM

Atlas Shrugs: Instituting Eurabia Project

LISBON TREATY: END OF NATIONS RISE OF STATISM

End of Nations - EU Takeover & the Lisbon Treaty. For anyone interested in the differences between the Constitution and the Lisbon Treaty, Richard Corbet now has a consolidated version of the treaties on his website, which has been annotated by Peadar ó Broin at the Irish Institute of International and European Affairs.

Media ignores Lords report on treaty

The Lisbon Treaty proposes the following, for the first time:

The EU will be a state
You will be a real citizen of the state
EU will decide your rights
EU criminal law will overrule Irish criminal law.
EU policing will overrule Irish policing
Many other area of legislation will be handed over to the unelected eurocrats in Brussels… More here

 

End of Nations - EU Takeover & the Lisbon Treaty 

We set out to make a video about the pros and cons of the Lisbon Treaty and found out to our horror the lies, manipulations and deceit ... all » behind the EU. From MEPs, legal experts and EU researches the true nature of the EU unfolded, how it really operates from behind closed doors and away from prying eyes. We discovered the massive power grab away from citizens and nations to the elites that is being proposed in this treaty. Most shocking of all was how our elected representatives are willingly handing us over to this emerging Totalitarian Superstate by deception , propaganda and outright lies.

This video details how the structures of the EU really operate, what the full significance of the Lisbon Treaty is and how it is the end of Nations within in the EU. MEPs describe their experience in Brussels and how they are undermined by the real power of the unelected and unaccountable Eurocrats who run the organization. How the politicians are working together for their own selfish needs while being used for a bigger agenda.

These Boots Are Gonna Walk All Over You

... Today the European Union leaders signed the Lisbon Treaty. This treaty gives the EU the constitutional form of a state. These are the ten most important things the Lisbon Treaty does:.

1. It establishes a legally new European Union in the constitutional form of a supranational European State.

The Treaty gives this new Union a State Constitution which is identical in its legal effects to the EU Constitution that French and Dutch voters rejected in their 2005 referendums.

2. It empowers this new European Union to act as a State vis-a-vis other States and its own citizens.

To understand the change introduced by the Lisbon Treaty one needs to understand that what we call the European Union today is not a State. It is not even a legal or corporate entity in its own right, for it does not have legal personality. The name "European Union" at present is a descriptive term for all the relations between its 27 Member States.

At present these relations cover both the "European Community" area where supranational European law is operative, and the "intergovernmental" areas of foreign policy and justice and home affairs where Member States cooperate with one another on the basis of keeping their sovereignty and where European laws do not apply.

The Lisbon Treaty changes this situation by creating a constitutionally and legally quite new EU, while retaining the same name, the "Union". Unlike the present European Union, this legally new EU will be separate from and superior to its Member States, just as the USA is separate from and superior to California or New York, or Federal Germany to Bavaria or Brandenburg.

This new European Union can sign treaties with other States in all areas of its competence and conduct itself as a State in the international community of States. It can speak at the United Nations on agreed foreign policy positions of its Member States, just as in the days of the Soviet Union the USSR had a UN seat while Russia, Ukraine and Byelorussia had UN seats also.

The Lisbon Treaty also gives the EU a political President, a Foreign Minister – to be called a High Representative – a diplomatic corps and a Public Prosecutor. The new EU will accede to the European Convention on Human Rights, as all other European States have already done, including those outside the EU.

3. It makes us all citizens of this new European Union.

A State must have citizens and one can only be a citizen of a State.

Citizenship of the European Union at present is stated to "complement" national citizenship, the latter being clearly primary, not least because the present EU is not a State. It is not even a corporate entity that can have individuals as members, not to mind citizens.

By transforming the legal character of the Union, the Lisbon Treaty transforms the meaning of Union citizenship. Article.17b.1 TEC/TFU replace the word "complement" in the sentence "Citizenship of the Union shall complement national citizenship", so that the new sentence reads: "Citizenship of the Union shall be in addition to national citizenship." This gives the 500 million inhabitants of the present EU Member States a real separate citizenship from citizenship of their national States for the first time. It gives a treble citizenship to citizens of Bavaria and Brandenburg within a Federal State like Germany. The rights and duties attaching to this citizenship of the new Union are be superior to those attaching to citizenship of one's own national State in any case of conflict between the two, because of the superiority of EU law over national law and constitutions.

4. To hide the enormity of the change, the same name – European Union – will be kept while the Lisbon Treaty changes fundamentally the legal and constitutional nature of the Union.

The change in the constitutional nature of both the Union and its Member States will be made in three legal steps that are set out in the Treaty:

(a) It establishes a European Union with an entire legal personality and independent corporate existence in all Union areas for the first time, so that it can function as a State vis-a-vis other States and in relation to its own citizens (Art.32, amended TEU);

(b) This new European Union replaces the existing European Community and takes over all of its powers and institutions. It takes over as well the "intergovernmental" powers over foreign policy and crime, justice and home affairs which at present are outside the scope of European law, leaving only the Common Foreign and Security Policy outside the scope of its supranational power (Art.11.1, amended TEU).

It thereby gives a unified constitutional structure to the new Union which it will constitute or establish. The European Community disappears and all spheres of public policy will come within the scope of supranational EU law-making either actually or potentially, as in any constitutionally unified State.

5. It creates a Union Parliament for the Union's new citizens.

The Lisbon Treaty/EU Constitution makes Members of the European Parliament, who at present are "representatives of the peoples of the Member States", into "representatives of the Union's citizens" (Art.9a, amended TEU). This illustrates the constitutional shift the Treaty makes from the present European Union of national States and peoples to the new Federal Union of European citizens and their national states – the latter henceforth reduced constitutionally and politically to provincial or regional status.

6. It creates a Cabinet Government of the new Union.

he Treaty turns the European Council, the quarterly "summit" meetings of Member State Heads of State or Government, into an institution of the new Union, so that its acts and failures to act will, like all other Union institutions, be subject to legal review by the EU Court of Justice.

7. It creates a new Union political President.

The federalist character of the European Council "summit" meetings in the proposed new Union structure is further underlined by the provision which gives the European Council a permanent political President for up to five years (two and a half years renewable once) (Art.9b).

There is no gathering of Heads of State or Government in any other international context which maintains the same chairman or president for several years while individual national prime ministers and prime ministers come and go.

8. It creates a civil rights code for the new Union's citizens.

All States have codes setting out the rights of their citizens. The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights will be that. It will be made legally binding by the new Treaty and will be an essential part of the new Union's constitutional structure (Art.6, amended TEU).

The Charter is stated to be binding on the Union's own institutions and on Member States in implementing Union law. This limitation to EU law and to the EU institutions is unrealistic however, because

(a) the principles of primacy and uniformity of Union law mean that Member States will not only be bound by the Fundamental Rights Charter when implementing EU law, but also through the "interpretation and application of their national laws in conformity with Union laws" (v. ECJ judgements in the Factortame, Simmenthal and other law cases); and because

(b) the Charter sets out fundamental rights in areas in which the Union has currently no competence, e.g. outlawing the death penalty, asserting citizens' rights in criminal proceedings and various other areas.

9. It makes national Parliaments subordinate to the new Union.

The Treaty underlines the subordinate role of National Parliaments in the constitutional structure of the new Union by stating that "National Parliaments shall contribute actively to the good functioning of the Union" by various means set out in Article 8c, amended TEU. The imperative "shall" implies an obligation on National Parliaments to further the interests of the new Union.

National Parliaments have in any case already lost most of their law-making powers to the EC/EU. The citizens who elect them have lost their powers to decide these laws too.

10. It gives the new Union self-empowerment powers.

In conclusion:

If there were to be a European Federation that is democratic and acceptable, the minimum constitutional requirement for it would be that its laws would be initiated and approved by the directly elected representatives of the people either in the European Parliament or the National Parliaments. Unfortunately, neither the Lisbon Treaty nor the EU Constitution it establishes contain any such proposal.

By giving a Constitution indirectly rather than directly to the new European Union which it will establish, the Lisbon Treaty sets in place what Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt has called the "capstone of a European Federal State". For the Euro-federalist political elites who have been driving this process over decades this is the culmination of what started nearly 60 years ago when the 1950 Schuman Declaration, which is commemorated annually on 9 May, Europe Day, proclaimed the European Coal and Steel Community to be the "first step in the federation of Europe".

The peoples of Europe do not want this kind of highly centralized Federal European Union whose most striking feature is that it is run virtually entirely by committees of politicians, bureaucrats and judges, none of whom are directly elected by the people. The Constitutional Treaty setting it up has already been rejected by the French and the Dutch in 2005. As French President Nicolas Sarkozy has admitted, the Prime Ministers and Presidents have agreed among themselves on no account to have referendums on the Renamed Constitutional Treaty, for that would be rejected everywhere again.

Only the Irish are enabled to have their say on it because of the constitutional case taken before the Supreme Court by the late Raymond Crotty. That action by that great Irishman stopped the State's politicians of that time from ratifying a previous European Treaty, the Single European Act, in an unconstitutional manner.

 
This document has been drafted in consultation with authorities on European and constitutional law by Anthony Coughlan, Secretary of the National Platform EU Research and Information Centre, 24 Crawford Avenue, Dublin 9, Ireland; Tel.: 00-353-1-8305792; E-mail: nationalplatformeuric@eircom.net

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