Addendum to the EU skeptic post [N]

As you may or may not know, this blog is for the time being still a part of a University class I'm following. This does not mean I intend to hold back on any opinion I have, during the next 6 weeks. With that in mind, I would occasionally like to make a post that is not in any way connected to the class matter. For the time being I will mark these posts with the [N] suffix, like this one.

Leaving Castells by the wayside for a moment, I would like to come back on some statements I have made in the previous post. Primarily my claim that the EU parliament is a non democratic institution and that they have far more power over member states than what should be allowed.

You might be familiar with the attempt the EU made at ratifying a constitution of their own in 2005. This constitution was at the time marketed as being a document that would further unite and support the people of Europe, and would make the EU flag and anthem officially recognized by all member states. This constitution also included a promise that all member states would uphold various commonly agreed upon policies, like the equal treatment of sexes, no support for the death penalty and the promotion of peace. The contents however, went much further than this. Various measures were included that would increase the power of the EU over its member states. Chief among which a demand stating that EU law would get primacy over national law, extended by 6 policy areas in which only EU law can exist.

Surprisingly enough, most of the member states demanded that the EU constitution would be ratified through a referendum. This was one of the few occasions on which the EU has ever bothered to include citizens in their policy making. Perhaps not surprisingly, the EU constitution was rejected by referendum in both France and the Netherlands. Since no EU policy can be accepted without agreement of all member states, the EU constitution was cancelled.

2 Years later, a new treaty was proposed. Signed in Lisbon, this treaty is now known to the world as the treaty of Lisbon. Many of the contents were nothing more than rewritten text that was seen 2 years earlier in the suggested EU constitution. This time, only Ireland was allowed to ratify it through a referendum, since their constitution demanded it. After an initial rejection, Ireland went on to ratify the treaty of Lisbon in a second referendum, after some minor alterations had been made. With all the member states now in 'full support' of the treaty, the EU gained its common currency, the European Central Bank became an officially recognized institution and the member states had submitted their legal system to the scrutiny and demands of the EU.

The European Union in it's current form is NOT democratically elected, has gained its power through NON democratic means and is able to intervene in the democratic procedures of all member states. This is why I am a Euro Skeptic.