EU Superstate and the Lisbon Treaty

Blair Could Be Appointed President Over All of Europe in November

October 22, 2009

Daily Mail - Tony Blair could be crowned first President of Europe at a special summit of EU leaders next month. Diplomatic sources say French President Nicolas Sarkozy is pushing for an extraordinary meeting in Brussels to install the former prime minister in the new £275,000-a-year post.

Supporters of Mr Blair’s candidacy are racing to get a deal stitched up as doubts grow about whether the forthcoming inquiry into the Iraq war could prove a major stumbling block.

The Conservatives have told the French that making him EU president would be viewed by an incoming Tory government as a ‘declaration of war’.

They are warning other European leaders that if appointed, Mr Blair could find himself almost immediately at the centre of massive controversy as the formal inquiry into the Iraq war gets under way. The former prime minister is expected to be the chief witness at the inquiry, being led by Whitehall mandarin Sir John Chilcot.

But diplomats say that as well as M Sarkozy, Barack Obama would also be happy to see Mr Blair installed as EU President. The White House will make no public statement on the post, but the President is said to favour a candidate such as Mr Blair, who is both pro-American and pro-European...

Sweden, which holds the current ‘ rotating’ EU presidency, also wants a permanent president nominated within weeks, even though the successful candidate would not take up the position until all the EU’s 27 member states have ratified the Lisbon Treaty.

‘The French are pushing for an extraordinary summit next month to crown Tony Blair as President of the EU,’ said one diplomatic source. ‘Blair is looking like the clear favourite and Sarkozy wants to get it settled quickly’...

Brown Offers Financial Package for Northern Ireland to Run Courts, Police

October 21, 2009

Fox News - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday that he had offered a financial package to Northern Ireland's political leaders to take control of their courts and police, a key step in the region's decade-old peace agreement.

Brown said the package follows a new round of talks aimed at breaking a deadlock on the region taking over law and order responsibilities from London.

Catholic leaders have long rejected British control of law enforcement and justice in Northern Ireland. But agreeing with Protestants on how the region's power-sharing government should take on the role has proved problematic.

Britain is offering about $1.3 billion to the political leaders to set up a new Justice Department.

"I hope that when the leaders of the Northern Ireland parties take back these proposals to their parties they will find that they command support," Brown told the House of Commons.

Northern Ireland leaders will debate the plans before deciding whether to approve the devolution of policing and justice powers.

The governments of Britain, Ireland and the United States suggest that transferring law-and-order powers to Belfast will strengthen the coalition and isolate Irish Republican Army dissidents, who are scheming to disrupt power-sharing.

Dissidents shot to death two British soldiers and a policeman earlier this year, the first such killings since 1998.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used a visit to Northern Ireland last week to urge rival leaders to cooperate. She said taking control of justice duties would be the most effective deterrent to the "thuggish tactics and destructive ambitions" of dissident IRA members.

"The publication today by the British government of a generous financial package for devolved policing and justice is a major step forward," said Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin.

Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson, who leads both the power-sharing administration and the Democratic Unionist Party, had insisted that Northern Ireland couldn't take over the roles without hundreds of millions of extra dollars in support from Britain.

Sinn Fein, Robinson's power sharing partner, has accused him of using money demands — at a time of financial crisis and deep British deficits — as a delaying tactic because he opposes Sinn Fein influence in oversight of the justice system.

Under Brown's plans, Britain will gift four former military bases to Northern Ireland, help out with police pensions and underwrite millions of dollars per year to pay claims for hearing loss being mounted by police officers.

EU Lisbon Treaty To Become Law Within Weeks After Czech President Concedes Defeat

The controversial Lisbon Treaty is set to become law within weeks after the Czech Republic's eurosceptic president conceded his attempt to challenge it was futile.

October 17, 2009

Telegraph - Vaclav Klaus, the only European Union leader who has still not signed the document, said he could not wait for a British general election next year which could lead to a Tory government and a possible referendum to bury the Treaty.

Mr Klaus said:

"The train carrying the treaty is going so fast and it's so far that it can't be stopped or returned, no matter how much some of us would want that."

His remarks devastated Conservative MPs and eurosceptic campaigners who have been clinging to the hope that he might be able to go on delaying ratification of the Treaty until the election next year.

Tory MPs last night called on David Cameron to urgently clarify the party's position on whether it would still offer the British people a referendum.

Mr Klaus, who angered EU partners when he further delayed the ratification process by asking for an opt-out on the treaty earlier this month, said he still did not see the document as a good thing for "freedom in Europe."

But in an interview with the "Lidove noviny" newspaper in the Czech Republic, he said:

"I cannot and will not wait for British elections, unless they hold them in the next few days or weeks."

He will, however, have to wait for the verdict of the Czech Constitutional Court on the treaty's compliance with the Czech constitution, which is expected on 27 October.

The Treaty, which brings in closer EU co-operation and streamlines governance in the 27-nation bloc, must be ratified by all EU members to take effect. Ireland voted to ratify the Treaty earlier this month, despite having said No in a previous referendum...

Blair for President? 'Not Necessarily a Good Idea,' Says His Former Adviser

And polls throughout Europe – and 38,000 petition signatories – agree. Jane Merrick reports on the gathering momentum to stop the former PM

October 18, 2009

The Independent - Tony Blair's former chief adviser on the EU has misgivings about the ex-prime minister becoming President of Europe, as the campaign to overturn his bid gathers pace.

Sir Stephen Wall – one of the key architects of the post of EU president – said a high-profile figure such as Mr Blair was "not necessarily a very good idea" and cast doubt on his ability to build consensus among EU leaders. A figure from a smaller state would send a "unifying signal", he added.

The surprise intervention came amid growing signs that a President Blair would not be welcomed by ordinary citizens of Europe, despite their leaders showing support.

Research by The Independent on Sunday suggests a democratic discrepancy between voters and national leaders – who wield the votes for the new president. The findings are supported by a European-wide petition to stop Mr Blair taking the post, which comes with a string of perks. Nearly 38,000 people have signed the petition, yet he remains a favourite with bookmakers and with a growing number of EU leaders.

After the IoS asked readers' opinions last week, hundreds responded – and those saying No to Mr Blair outnumbered Yes by 20 to 1. His role in the Iraq war was the main complaint. As the process for choosing a European Council president draws to a close later this year, Mr Blair is expected to appear before the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war.

Comments from readers and petitioners suggest that Mr Blair appears to have misjudged the public anger that still exists over Iraq. Last night sources close to the former prime minister claimed he remained focused on his job as Middle East envoy and was "really enjoying his new life".

The EU president, a role created by the Lisbon Treaty, will be decided before the end of this year, with only Vaclav Klaus, the Czech president, yet to ratify the charter. Despite voters' opposition, EU leaders appear to be inching towards acclamation of Mr Blair at a meeting in Brussels in December. Yet Sir Stephen, who criticised Mr Blair over Iraq, said in an interview with the journal European Voice that the ex-PM would not be suitable if the post was designed for consensus-building in the 27-nation bloc.

Sir Stephen was the UK's permanent representative to the EU between 1995 and 2000, before working as Mr Blair's European adviser until 2004. During his time at No 10, Sir Stephen helped devise the posts of president and European foreign affairs representative.

Asked about the possibility of a high-profile figure such as Mr Blair as president, Sir Stephen said:

"[That] is not necessarily a very good idea."

On whether he thought the first president should be from a smaller member state, he said:

"I think that it would help a lot as a signal. As a unifying signal, it should be thought about." He added that the disadvantage of appointing such a personality was that they would be "trampling on what should be done by the high representative".

He said if Mr Blair were appointed "you do have someone who is seen as someone who counts and can articulate his vision". But he added:

"The powers are very constrained. If the president of the United States did phone a President Tony Blair to ask for something, then Blair could only respond that he would 'consult 27 governments and see what we can do'."

Some 18,845 Britons have signed the petition. The rest are made up of 2,882 Belgians, 2,777 French, 1,538 Austrians, 1,417 from Spain and 1,409 from Germany. Others are from the Netherlands, Portugal, Greece, Italy and Ireland.

A poll last week found 47 per cent of Britons were opposed to Mr Blair, with 35 per cent in favour. But Gordon Brown has backed him for the job, and leaders in Spain, Italy and Denmark are said to be in favour. France's Nicolas Sarkozy has, so far, been indecisive.

Meanwhile, the Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, in an interview yesterday, suggested he was softening his hardline opposition to signing the treaty. He told the newspaper Lidove Noviny that despite his continued opposition, it was too late to stop it.

Date Set for Czech Lisbon Case

October 13, 2009

Irish Times - The Czech Constitutional Court is to hold a hearing on a challenge that has been delaying ratification of the Lisbon Treaty on October 27th.

The Czech Republic is the only one of the European Union’s 27 member states yet to ratify the treaty, and the court challenge brought by a group of eurosceptic senators is one of two key stumbling blocks on the path to ratification.

The other obstacle is President Vaclav Klaus. He is obliged to wait for the court ruling before he completes ratification, but he has also demanded the EU grants the Czechs a partial opt-out from the pact.

The treaty, already approved by both houses of the Czech parliament, is aimed at streamlining decision-making in the EU and giving the bloc a bigger clout. It would also give the EU a long-term president and a more powerful foreign representative.

The court has in past cases often ruled on the day of the hearing or soon after, but there is no guarantee of a quick verdict.

The hearing will be held just ahead of the two-day October summit of EU leaders in Brussels, which begins on October 29th.

The court has already once rejected a complaint against the treaty, and most lawyers expect it to dismiss the latest appeal, which would open the way to ratification.

But Mr Klaus threw a further obstacle in the way last week, demanding the EU grant the Czechs guarantees the treaty would not open the way to property claims by Germans forced out of the country after World War Two.

The cabinet said it regretted Mr Klaus did not raise his demands much earlier but said it would try negotiate the guarantees with the other 26 EU partners by the time of the October summit, provided he pledges that he will have no further demands.

Germans Seek to Oust Czech President Vaclav Klaus Over EU Treaty

October 11, 2009

Times Online - Revelling in the fuss he was causing, Vaclav Klaus, the president of the Czech Republic, calmly tucked into a plate of steamed shellfish on the terrace of the elegant Adriatic hotel in the Albanian seaside resort of Durres last week.

In faraway Brussels furious diplomats were calling for his impeachment and even his country’s expulsion from the European Union because of his obstinate refusal to sign the Lisbon treaty. Klaus, now the only European leader holding out against ratifying the document, made it clear he did not give a damn.

European leaders were told he was not available to take their calls. The Eurosceptic president and his wife Livia were completing a brief tour of the Balkan country where Klaus, 68, attended the launch of the Albanian edition of his controversial book, Blue Planet in Green Shackles, which argues there is no such thing as man-made global warming.

The trip had clearly been planned to coincide with the diplomatic blitz that Brussels launched after last weekend’s referendum in Ireland, which appeared to remove the final hurdle to ratification. Klaus seemed to have other ideas.

Lech Kaczynski, the Polish president, left Klaus further isolated by signing the treaty into law yesterday.

“The EU remains a union of nation states, a strict union, and let it remain so,” Kaczynski said.

Calling the organisation “a successful experiment without precedent in human history,” he said it could not be closed to those who wish to join, “not only in the Balkans but also countries like Georgia.”

On Klaus’s return to Prague he dropped a political bombshell. At a press conference in his official residence the Czech leader announced that he would sign the treaty only if his government negotiated an opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which is incorporated in the treaty.

He was concerned that the charter may permit retrospective property claims by the Sudeten Germans, a 3.5m-strong minority group expelled from the Czech Republic after the second world war.

“I have always considered this treaty a step in the wrong direction,” Klaus said. As he is well aware, the slightest change to the treaty, which was first proposed in 2001, would require all 27 EU member countries to agree.

His remarks were greeted with outrage in Europe. German and French diplomats, in talks with their Czech counterparts, explored two ways of removing the Klaus obstacle: impeach him or change the Czech constitution to take away his right of veto.

“If the president is obstructing the democratic process and opposing the decision of parliament as well as the will of the people, he is moving beyond the law and will need to face the consequences,” a German diplomat told The Sunday Times.

Jiri Oberfalzer, a member of the Czech senate and Klaus’s closest ally, said Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, had already threatened the Czechs with expulsion from the EU.

“Ideas of changing the constitution just to get rid of the president only shows how weak our young democracy is,” said Oberfalzer, a Eurosceptic.

The political hot potato now lands in the hands of the caretaker government of Jan Fischer, the prime minister.

Under the Czech constitution, a president can be impeached only if he commits high treason against the country’s independence or its territorial integrity and democratic order. It is highly unlikely that parliament would pass such a measure under Fischer’s interim government.

There are other hurdles. The treaty has been approved by the Czech parliament, but senators loyal to Klaus have lodged three challenges with the constitutional court, which has rejected two and is widely expected to follow suit with the third.

Opponents of the treaty hope that Klaus will be able to stall ratification until the British general election in May. David Cameron, the Tory leader, has promised a referendum if his party wins and the treaty is still unsigned.

Klaus is unlikely to give in without at least some concessions. He is said to want to be seen as the leader who derailed the European project. A comparison is being drawn in Prague with Edvard Benes, the pre-war Czech leader who in 1938 had to flee to Britain after refusing to cede territory to Hitler under the Munich agreement.