So close yet so far. For five years Europe’s elite has been attempting to consolidate the European Union’s power in the face of popular opposition. Every EU member government has ratified the so-called Lisbon Treaty, yet the agreement remains in limbo, awaiting the signature of Czech President Vaclav Klaus.
The European Union began as a free-trade zone. The economic benefits were obvious while the threats to national sovereignty were few. Over time the EU gained political authority, but national governments remained supreme. However, in 2004 leading European federalists, or Eurocrats, sought to change that by drafting a constitution, later turned into the Lisbon Treaty—thereby avoiding popular referenda on ratification—turning the EU into something closer to a nation state.
It took two tries to get the treaty past the Irish, whose constitution mandated a popular vote. But the Eurocrats’ apparent triumph still has fallen short: the Czech constitution requires President Klaus’ signature for ratification, which he so far has withheld. Treaty backers fear that delay could prove fatal: if the treaty goes unratified until the next British election, required mid-2010, the anti-Lisbon Conservatives, widely expected to win, could rescind Britain’s ratification. Then the entire project would collapse.
Read Full Article »