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EU to launch treaty talks without Poland, Merkel warns (Roundup)
Jun 22, 2007, 23:48 GMT
German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for the European Union (EU) summit at the European council building in Brussels, Belgium, 22 June 2007. Britain and Poland remained entrenched in their positions against a new treaty aimed at replacing the failed European constitution, and key EU leaders said progress was yet to be reached today on demands put forward by the two countries. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
Brussels - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday warned she would launch negotiations on a new 'reform' treaty for the 27- nation bloc even if Poland refuses to give its go-ahead to the deal, German spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said.
Wilhelm said Merkel told EU leaders she intended to table proposals for a mandate to open inter-governmental negotiations on a new treaty 'without Poland' if necessary.
The chancellor was reacting to a new threat to veto treaty talks made in Warsaw by Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Poland is represented at the EU summit by President Lech Kaczynski, the premier's twin brother.
Wilhelm said the German EU presidency made repeated attempts to address Polish demands for an increase in its voting rights in the EU's decision-making council of ministers.
The German offer had been 'far-reaching' but had been rejected by Poland, he said.
Merkel could not accept that the EU stand still, said Wilhelm. Progress achieved over the last six months must lead to the start of inter-governmental negotiations on a new treaty, he said.
Poland had the opportunity to join the talks if it wanted, said Wilhelm, adding that from the legal point of view, a majority of EU leaders could decide on a mandate for the negotiations.
Speaking in Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Kaczynski once again threatened to veto a summit deal, saying no concessions on key provisions were being made 'on the other side.'
'We can't keep on backing down,' he said, adding: 'Poland is too important country in Europe for it to have to give up everything.'
The Polish threat came as the EU summit entered a decisive end- game Friday evening, with Germany unveiling new compromise proposals aimed at meeting Poland's demands on voting rights.
The German offer included suggestions that the current system for distributing decision-making votes in the bloc, agreed 2000 at a summit in Nice, should be extended until 2014.
Under the deal, Poland with 27 votes is almost on a par with big EU states Germany, Britain, Italy and France, which have been accorded 29 votes each.
The German proposal would delay by seven years the introduction of an EU 'double majority' voting scheme, which requires that EU decisions have the support of 55 per cent of member states, representing 65 per cent of the population.
Poland opposes the scheme, saying it gives too much clout to the EU's bigger states like Germany.
The German offer also includes a proposal by French President Nicolas Sarkozy allowing a small group of countries to use an emergency brake to block decisions they do not like, even if they do not meet EU criteria for forging so-called blocking minority.
The new EU rulebook is designed to replace the draft constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.
The summit, chaired by Merkel, was scheduled to end later on Friday. But diplomats said discussions could stretch out into Saturday to give leaders more time to break the deadlock.
The new German compromise text also seeks to persuade Britain to lift its 'red lines' on issues such as the appointment of a first- ever EU foreign minister.
Leaders agreed the new treaty would instead refer to an EU 'high representative for foreign policy' - already the job title for Javier Solana, the current EU chief diplomat.
However, unlike Solana, the future EU 'high representative' will also be a vice-president of the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm.
In addition, he or she will be backed up by an EU diplomatic service including commission officials and diplomats from national governments.
Britain opposed the title of 'foreign minister,' arguing that this gave the impression that national governments were ceding sovereignty in the crucial foreign policy area to the EU.
The summit is expected to endorse British demands for opt-outs on EU justice and police affairs as well as issues related to social security.
The new treaty will also make clear that while a charter on fundamental rights will be legally-binding, it will not impact on Britain's labour laws.
Diplomats said a decision to drop a key reference in the new treaty to the bloc's commitment to 'free and undistorted competition' did not appear to be causing major problems.
The treaty wording, reflecting a demand by Sarkozy, initially provoked a backlash by Britain and other EU free-market states which said promotion of free competition was a core objective of the bloc.
However, EU officials said that although competition may not be mentioned in the preamble, the treaty itself had up to 13 references to free competition within the bloc. Therefore the move would have no 'legal implication,' said one EU official.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
That's the risk of getting European 3-world countries into the EU.
It sounds a lot like the UN, doesn't it? Funny, don't you think?
I thought we had a government with a lot of holes. This EU scam has more holes than swiss cheese.
'EU leaders labor into the night to find agreement on new EU treaty'
Oh, my God, I won't get home on time for my weekend!!
Ivo Cerckel –
The euro’s future
==
9.
The ECB marks its gold reserves to market on a quarterly basis
and also views gold as a wealth reserve.
10.
The US dollar is broke,
(The coming collapse of the US dollar
M R Venkatesh
Inhome DOT rediff DOT com /money/2007/jun/11dollar.htm
SNIP
The skew in the global financial system — commonly called ‘global imbalance’ — seems to be fast spiralling out of control.)
11.
Malaysia introduced the Islamic Gold Dinar. www DOT dinareconomy DOT com /home.html
12.
Russia’s Putin wants to add the ruble to the international system of payments
Economictimes DOT indiatimes DOT com/ News/Internati,
13.
Everybody, also China which wants to diversify its foreign-exchange reserves, is free to follow these examples.
China knows that gold has two functions to fulfil in the European Central Bank (ECB). First, as a reserve for the euro. The biggest part of the European Central Bank (ECB)’s reserves, as reported in the ECB’s consolidated financial statement of the Eurosystem as of 04 May 2007, consists indeed of gold reserves. (180,517 billion euro vs 145,40 billion euro in foreign currency.) Second, the concept of Freegold (Freegold freely-priced gold – no longer “fixedly” priced gold) as wealth reserve (no backing or redeemability) is slowly arising in the EU and China knows that once that once Freegold will have arisen, gold will continuously be auctioned … freely and on a global basis.
14.
Would it then not be a good idea for the euro to link up with the dinar and the ruble?
As the G8 Summit three weeks ago in Heiligendamm near Rostock did not tackle the issue of the imminent dollar collapse, that collapse will even more imminent.
Once this crisis will start, the dollar will, due to its exchange risks, no longer be perceived a genuine reserve and store of wealth, thereby losing its oil status.
The ECB wants the euro to become a gold-transaction currency.
Everybody’s dollar reserves are always subject to the dollar-regime’s discretion.
Freegold means the END TO THIS DOLLAR COLONIALISM.
Useless (unnecessary, obsolete) dollar reserves will be replaced by gold-wealth-reserves.
15.
This planet is in need of a store of value for wealth.
This is not possible with a proliferation of debts and derivatives.
As derivatives are thus proliferating, the coming collapse of the US dollar will be accelerated.
According to the EU’s Van Gerven in the Preface to his quoted book, his aim would be to gradually transform the European subcontinent into a political unity, and giving it a new peaceful future and a new supranational identity.
For Van Gerven, in his Epilogue, this can only be achieved by adopting the European Constitution which many Dutch and French voters have already rejected and whose objectives are indefinable.
Or did Van Gerven already have in December 2004 (when he put the finishing touches to his book) insider knowledge of the fact
that common sense would prevail in Brussels
and that “they” would repeal competition law,
thereby opening the way for the future gold euro to link up with the Islamic Gold Dinar, the gold yuan, the gold rupee, and the gold ruble?
Ivo Cerckel
ivocerckel AT siquijor DOT ws
16.
Of course, antitrust “experts” are very angry.
They will have to look for a honest way to make a living.
Can the Brussels bar hear me?
Dismay over competition shift
By Tobias Buck and Bertrand Benoit in Brussels
Published: June 22 2007 20:25 | Last updated: June 22 2007 20:25
ft DOT com /cms/s/60d151d8-20f0-11dc-8d50-000b5df10621.html
SNIP
A deal to remove the commitment to “free and undistorted” competition from the European Union treaty sparked howls of protests from business leaders, regulators and antitrust experts on Friday.
17.
Yes, the EU is now moving in the right direction.
SNIP
The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, paid tribute to Ms Merkel and handed her a bunch of flowers.
'This shows that Europe is on the move, and on the move in the right direction.'
The {Intergovernmental Conference - IGC] now has a precise mandate to draft a reform treaty by the end of the year, says the BBC's Oana Lungescu in Brussels.
SNIP
news DOT bbc DOT co DOT u k/2/hi/europe/6232540.stm
The only problem for the President of the European Commission is
that the direction has been spelled out by the European Central Bank,
not by the European Commission.
Hence,
almost 120 years after the US Sherman act was enacted in 1890,
EU Commission's Competition law is finally being repealed.
The reason why people from France and Holland rejected the european constitution is not because they are agains unification at all .Different reasons were given by those opposing the treaty .Ignorance of the content was widespread amongst opposers and proponents alike .But one reason invoked by many was the lack of social prospects .It seems the european integration is written for the benefit of corporate bizness and globalisation.This is the perception of the ordinary citizen untill now,and that is precisely why it was rejected .Not enough is done to harmonize social reform.One of the results from integration has been the migration of intensive labor related bizness from countries with high wages to countries with low wages and reduced worker protection.THe response to that from most national governments is to nibble at workers rights,increase worktimes,increase flexibility ,increase even more productivity .That is much easier in countries recently joining the european market as you might guess.Worker wages in Poland and Romania are way below european average .So it is easqy to understand that a lot of people are critical if not outright opposed to the evolution of europe.It is all very well when you are at the receiving end of it,but somebody else is paying the price .
The reform should had been made 20 years ago. Its good that this compromise has now finally found its way on the track.
Poland has sacrificed its strange voting proposal and the draft has sacrificed its early set date for it from 2009 to 2014 in return.
The UK got its demand approved that the EU human rights charta will not overpower UK laws.
If these tradeoffs were the price to pay..so be it.
Its not what it was meant to be in the beginning but its still a huge step forward and a unbelievable success for Merkel. Critics said the summit will fail completely , that the consitution will fail as a whole.
The dutch and french referendums are often used to justify the theories 'Anti-EU sentiments' or as a sign that the EU has no solid basis which is completely nonsense.
For example they forget to mention that Spain also held a referundum on the EU constitution in 2003 and accepted it with a powerful majority of over 80 percent of the votes.
On the other, you cannot hold public referendums for everything. This is impossible , especially when you have hundreds of things to work out and a combined EU population of over 400 million people. It would take decades to work out a single decision and turn democracy into a farce as propaganda to change peoples opinion would become the main instrument of the political parties.
Austrian Nobel laureate Friedrich von Hayek published his book 'Law, Legislation and Liberty' in three volumes.
Volume II was published in 1973 by The University of Chicago Press.
It was titled 'The Mirage of Social Justice'.
In that Volume, Hayek demonstrated that the notion of Social Justice cannot possibly be defined
(Ivo: just like the notion of 'workable competition' which would be upheld by the EU Commission cannot be defined.)
Still some Eurepeans want the EU to achieve social justice.
Now that it is being recognised that 'workable competition' cannot possibly be defined (EU competition law is indeed being repealed),
would it not be advisable to also recognise that social justice cannot possibly be defined and thus certainly not be upheld as an objective of the EU?
Look this successor to Le Roi Soleil maintains the European Central Bank (ECB)'s mandate to fight inflation,
and, by abolishing competition law, allows its (the latter's) future child, the gold euro,
to link up with the Islamic Gold Dinar, the gold yuan, the gold yen, the gold rupee and the gold ruble
to replace the dollar as the world reserve currency
uk DOT news DOT yahoo DOT com /rtrs/20070623/tbs-uk-eu-treaty-market-03c9bed.html
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy celebrated success on Saturday in removing a reference to market competition from the objectives of a proposed new European Union treaty
+
Sarkozy backed away from a bid to include in the treaty a reference to how the European Central Bank should promote economic growth as an objective, long a French rallying call.
Look this successor to Le Roi Soleil maintains the European Central Bank (ECB)'s mandate to fight inflation,
and, by abolishing competition law, allows its (the latter's) future child, the gold euro,
to link up with the Islamic Gold Dinar, the gold yuan, the gold yen, the gold rupee and the gold ruble
to replace the dollar as the world reserve currency
uk DOT news DOT yahoo DOT com /rtrs/20070623/tbs-uk-eu-treaty-market-03c9bed.html
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy celebrated success on Saturday in removing a reference to market competition from the objectives of a proposed new European Union treaty
+
Sarkozy backed away from a bid to include in the treaty a reference to how the European Central Bank should promote economic growth as an objective, long a French rallying call.
Nicolas, je t'aime tres beaucoup!
news DOT independent DOT co DOT uk / europe/article2701327.ece
SNIP
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France was yesterday claiming a victory over Britain at the end of a two-day summit of Europe's leaders in Brussels.
The new French President said he had managed to dilute the EU's commitment to free-market economic policies in a European 'mini-treaty', claiming at a pre-dawn press conference that he had struck a blow against the 'dogma' of competition. This was presented by his allies as a defeat for Tony Blair and his incoming successor, Gordon Brown.
The new mini-treaty, said Mr Sarkozy, 'will give Europe more humanity' because he had secured the deletion of the words 'undistorted competition' from the EU constitution's objectives. 'The word 'protection' is no longer taboo,' he said, adding: 'Competition as an ideology, as a dogma, what has it done for Europe?'
The EU bureaucrats realise they're an endangered species now.
observer DOT guardian DOT co DOT uk /world/story/0,,2109970,00.html
SNIPS
But there were fears that Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, had succeeded in diluting the EU's historic commitment to an unfettered free market. Alarm bells rang in the European Commission and in the British delegation on Thursday when it emerged that Merkel had agreed to a French request to drop the EU's 50-year commitment to promoting 'undistorted competition'.
The commission was so concerned that Philip Lowe, director-general of its competition division, contacted former competition commissioners to lobby their governments. Merkel refused to change the new treaty, although she did agree to a British request to include the competition declaration in a separate protocol. Lord Brittan, the former Tory Home Secretary, who went on to hold the commission portfolio, believes that France succeeded in weakening the EU's commitment to competition. He believes Britain is partly to blame.
page: 1
Frank/ BeijingJun 23rd, 2007 - 01:00:57
The new EU rulebook is designed to replace the draft constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.
==================================================
What a big shamble this whole EU is...... The self interests of the so called EU government highlight all decision making in this EU. Quickly they stopped those referendums after the population of Holland and France rejected this constitution. All because the people are not happy at all how this EU is getting managed. Not at all for the benefit majority of its citizens ...only for those who are in command!!!!!!!
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