9.20.2005
File it under "saw this one miles off". Yup as many predicted and some feared, MEPs feel now it has been long enough since the yolk got rejected to reintroduce the EU Constitution. EU observer has the story.
It will be subject to a bastardised version of the original process as an initial document containing non-contested issues will be sent on to a convention to rule on the more contentious issues of social-model and immigration. Thats peachy only the Observer points out that the issues where consensus is said to exist are the ones which caused much contention at the last convention, institutions and power relations. Wonderful stuff.
Still, it poses a question of whether this is a process worth embarking on again or is there a response alternative to this process which voters in Holland, France and the many sympathetic to the no position can proffer as an alternative. If so then it seems that the period of reflection is at an end and we are back to the old EU game of power grab by institutions.
All this steamy politics leads to a super vote in 2009 on the new treaty (bet it will not be billed as a constitution second time round), coupled with parliament elections.
The first move in this is by parliament;
"Aside from differences on some of the details, several MEPs in these groups have agreed that it is up to the EU parliament to seize the moment and try to get the treaty in place by 2009."
Its a fascinating debate for anoraks but can the EU afford another 4 years of navel gazing in a turbulent time for the continent and the organisation.
RR
Categories: EU, Constitution, Politics,
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