New EU Treaty - Comming Soon

There is today much in the news about matters of ''Europe.'' Should British Subjects be concerned? Well:

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An Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) of the heads of Government of the EU member is to be convened, with a view to negotiating a treaty text, the target being a signing of a new EU Treaty by the end of this year.

The Daily Telegraph is, today, having to backtrack madly today in its leader, making out that the IGC is a new development, covering the tracks for Daniel Hannan, who confidently predicted that Blair was going to sign the treaty on 22 June. No treaty or draft treaty will be signed at the current meeting.

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The danger of further erosion of sovereign powers in the direction of the EU and away from the UK (and indeed other member states) is forever present though nothing will be agreed or signed (even in draft form) until the IGC at the end of the year.

Most interesting (and important) is comment retailed to us via The Times, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, former French President and author of the failed EU constitution, has written in Le Monde that by making "cosmetic" changes to the constitution "public opinion will be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals that we dare not present to them directly". (Crafty lot - what! Ed)

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He argues that "if governments agree on a simplified treaty preserving the essential institutional advances, they should not be afraid to say so and write so". Efforts were underway to try to "conserve part of the innovations of the Constitutional Treaty and to camouflage them by breaking them up into several texts".

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He said: "The most innovative elements will be the object of simple amendments to the Maastricht and Nice treaties. The technical improvements would be regrouped into a bland and painless treaty. The sum of these texts will be presented to parliaments, which will vote on them separately. Thus public opinion will be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals that we dare not present to them 'directly'."

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That is, of course, exactly the technique adopted with the draft Treaty of the European Union, back in 1984 which, on the advice of French President Mitterrand, was broken into two bite-sized chunks to become the Single European Act (SEA) and the Maastricht Treaty. The details of this were kept well away from the people and in the case of the SEA amazingly 'bought' by Baroness Thatcher.

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The trouble is that is the way the EU architects work. They work a constant process of grabbing what they can get away with, denying that they want more and then, in the fullness of time, coming back for more – in a never-ending process. The only thing new, therefore, is that, for once, M.Giscard seems happy to admit that this is the plan.

The referendum that we in the UK really want is a full, free and fair vote on whether we stay in a political union or regain our independence pride and self determination. The EU question has been off the political agenda for some time and our Government is not of a mind to allow the British people decide on their future destiny.

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