eurotrash - the latest from brussels
WORKERS, OCT 2005 ISSUE
Vote, again
Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel has urged rerunning the French and Dutch referendums on the proposed European Union Constitution, saying, "perhaps in 2007, if in one or other country there has been political change, then a second attempt can be made."
Not to be outdone, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the principal author of the EU Constitution, interviewed on Radio 4's Today programme, said French voters voted "no" to Turkish membership of the EU, not to the Constitution. He said that there needed to be careful consideration about how the Constitution could be adopted after which "there will be a new presentation, and I think, an approval".Globalisation, again
The European Commission's Vice-President has told the International Herald Tribune, "People must be told that globalisation is our policy. ... I see a clear danger when people are saying less Europe is better. More integration is not the problem, it is the solution."
Cut, again
The European Central Bank's Principal Economist has told EU member states to cut public spending, privatise services and introduce user fees.
Carry on regardless
Meanwhile the EU is carrying on regardless, treating No votes against the Constitution as if they were Yes. It is setting up, with no legal authorisation, a European External Action Service, a European Defence Agency, EU military structures, an External Border Agency, a Foreign Minister, a European Space Programme, an EU criminal code, a common EU asylum policy, a Fundamental Rights Agency and the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
On the rise
The number of migrants from Eastern Europe EU member states has risen dramatically, due to the government's open door policy. The Home Office admits that every month 14,000 arrive from Eastern Europe: the government told us in May last year that between 5,000 and 13,000 would arrive in the next year.