Czech News
03.11.2008
Lisbon Treaty brings new imperialism
Prague – Czech non-governmental think-tank eStat.cz has an ambition
to repeat the success of Irish group Libertas, who significantly
contributed to the rejection of the Lisbon Treaty in an Irish
referendum.
Lawyers of eStat have studied the draft European Union treaty and
compiled a list of institutional changes the document would bring to
the member states. The group then distributed the list among Czech MPs
and senators, who are to ratify or reject the treaty in a vote
scheduled for 10 November.
“The treaty has both positive and negative aspects, but the
negatives prevail,” says Dalibor Ve?mi?ovský from eState. He argues
that the Lisbon Treaty excessively broadens the powers of the European
Commission and hence limits the sovereignty of the member states.
‘Return of European imperialism’
Brussels, which has so far mainly overseen the common market, would,
according to Ve?mi?ovský, get a right to shape member states’ social,
energy, or foreign policies. For example, Czechs could no longer
negotiate bilateral visa-free relations with a non-EU country, as they
recently did with the US, and the commission could influence pensions
or taxation.
Ve?mi?ovský continues to say that the treaty would introduce EU
police forces authorized to intervene in any member state, and the EU
could prosecute citizens without consulting national authorities.
“This is de facto a return to imperialism of large European
countries. It is only using different means this time,” says
Ve?mi?ovský, adding that the institutional reform will give excessive
powers to the largest EU members – mainly Germany, France, Italy and
the UK.
The treaty stipulates that 220 areas of EU-wide policy and
legislation could be decided by a qualified majority, i.e. by at least
15 of the 27 countries, provided they represent at least 65 percent of
the total EU population. Today, unanimous agreement of all members in
the EU Council is required in many of these areas.
In this way, any three of the four states mentioned above will have
enough power to veto proposals backed by the rest of the EU. At the
same time, the Big Four will only need the support of 11 member states,
no matter how small, to impose their proposals.
Towards a superstate?
In addition to that, the paragraph 7 of the article 48 of the treaty
stipulates that the council can increase the number of policy and
legislation areas that will be under Brussels’s jurisdiction and will
only require a qualified majority. This further broadening of
Brussels’s powers will be possible without the agreement of national
parliaments or referendums required today.
It was this clause that raised concerns in Ireland that the EU could
in the future abolish the country’s neutral status or lift its ban on
abortions.
“The paragraph 7 is a dragon’s egg that will enable the EU to
transform from an supranational institution to a superstate,”
Ve?mi?ovský concludes.
In a survey conducted in July by the STEM agency, 53 percent of
Czechs said they did not want the parliament to ratify the treaty.
