Posted on 07/08/2003 4:14:48 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
All credit to Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the chairman of the convention that has drafted the first EU Constitution, for exposing the Government's latest attempt to pull the wool over the public eyes on European integration [report July 8].
The former French president has admitted that the removal of the word "federal'' from the text was a ruse designed to make things easier for Tony Blair at home. He replaced the "f'' word with the term "communautaire'', which, he says, "means exactly the same thing''.
We have predicted over many months that the Government would be allowed to win this "victory'' so that it could claim that it had been vigorously fighting Britain's corner. Indeed, the "f'' word was inserted for the very purpose of having it removed.
As such, it was much more of a sham fight than the Cavalier-Roundhead contests put on by the Civil War enthusiasts of the Sealed Knot.
It would, none the less, be wrong to dismiss the Euro-constitution as "federalism in all but name''. Such is its content that genuine federalism would represent an improvement on its centralising ambitions. Most national written constitutions concern themselves with the role and powers of government. This one, however, busies itself with the minutiae of employment law, disabled rights and housing policy.
All of these will be brought into the purview of Brussels by the constitution, which among other things gives legal force to the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The Government claims that all this is mere "tinkering'' at the edges and is not a constitutional matter: hence its refusal, even now, to hold a referendum on the subject. In so doing, it is actually doing a disservice to the cause it believes in more than any other.
There is nothing discreditable about the honest advocacy of European integration, though it is light years removed from what this newspaper and so many Britons believe in. If there is to be a democratic European federation, it must enjoy a real connection with its future citizens.
By denying the public the opportunity to judge for themselves, the Government will create a polity that is neither stable nor successful.
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Perhaps he sees it as a way to ensure Blair either loses an election or receives a vote of no confidence somewhere down the pike.
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