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The Dunkirk spirit eh? Tell the bulldog to put his teeth back in!
The Guardian seems to be overstating the case a bit :
Initially 23 of the 27 EU countries said they would ignore the British veto and negotiate a new pact outside the treaty. Later the other three waverers said they would take the agreement to their own parliaments, leaving the UK on its own.
What are the odds on the Swedish, Hungarian and Czech parliaments all approving the intergovernmental fudge?
The disturbing bit is Cameron's apparent dog-in-the-manger determination to bloc
Cameron acknowledged there were risks in striking out alone. But he said Britain would protect its position by insisting that the institutions of the EU could not be used to enforce the new fiscal rules. "While there were always dangers of agreeing a treaty within a treaty, there are also risks with others going off and forming a separate treaty. So we will insist that the EU institutions - the court, the commission - that they work for all 27 nations of the EU. Indeed those institutions are established by the treaty and that treaty is still protected." Cameron indicated that Britain may go further and block the use of EU institutions if eurozone countries club together to shape financial regulations and labour laws.
"While there were always dangers of agreeing a treaty within a treaty, there are also risks with others going off and forming a separate treaty. So we will insist that the EU institutions - the court, the commission - that they work for all 27 nations of the EU. Indeed those institutions are established by the treaty and that treaty is still protected."
Cameron indicated that Britain may go further and block the use of EU institutions if eurozone countries club together to shape financial regulations and labour laws.
The institutional solution would presumably be for EU organisations to have a dual legal definition, and any meeting which dealt with Eurozone business would reconvene in its "EU minus UK" configuration, sending the UK representative out for a smoke. It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II
Whether the UK is in accord with Euro economics or not, the EU is also a union that allows countries to veto policies that go against their national interests quite apart from economics. For that reason alone, the UK has good reason to insist on the 27.
But for the leaders of 26 of the nations, whether or not they genuinely adhere to the EU project, it comes down to whether a veto is worth the price.
The difference is that the UK has a history of getting away with vetos, without paying any price. It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II
Well, we have a minority government, and I think the votes would come down like this: Government parties - pro-fudge Left party, Green party, Sweden-democrats - anti-fudge Soc-dems - will the need to look serious beat need to give the government a black eye? Sadly, probably yes.
Thus fudge will probably pass in Sweden. Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se
Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
YMMV She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
Finland is in a different position, already being in the euro. Finland also has Russia as a neighbour, increasing the support for european projects in general.
Any neuro would have to work with countries already in the euro, but as Netherlands also has come under attack, I don't see that as an option either. Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se
:-) She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
- Jake Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.
Got to be kidding. She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
The institutional solution would presumably be for EU organisations to have a dual legal definition, and any meeting which dealt with Eurozone business would reconvene in its "EU minus UK" configuration, sending the UK representative out for a smoke.
That in itself would presumably require a new round of treaties. So you might as well go whole hog and set up parallel institutions.
It's a fail either way, so what the hell. The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
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