EU Superstate and the Lisbon Treaty

New EU President Rompuy Announces 2009 as First Year of Global Governance

November 20, 2009

Old-Thinker News - The new EU President, Herman Van Rompuy, has proclaimed 2009 as the “first year of global governance.” During Rompuy’s intervention as President on November 19th, he stated:

“2009 is also the first year of global governance, with the establishment of the G20 in the middle of the financial crisis. The climate conference in Copenhagen is another step towards the global management of our planet.”

Rompuy attended a Bilderberg dinner at Hertoginnendal, Brussels on November 15th, during which he announced a plan to implement EU wide taxes that will be paid directly to Brussels.

Recently Mario Borghezio (Italy), member of the European Parliament, spoke openly against the influence of globalist organizations such as the Bilderberg Group and the Trilateral Commission.

“Is it possible that no one has noticed that all 3 (EU Presidential candidates) frequently attend Bilderberg or Trilateral meetings?,” asked Borghezio.

Rompuy will undoubtedly serve globalist interests during his reign of the European Union.

Mixed Response as Top EU Figures Named

November 20, 2009

BBC - The appointment of two little-known figures to the new top jobs in the EU has drawn a mixed response. Belgian PM Herman van Rompuy was named President of the European Council, while Briton Baroness Catherine Ashton was made EU foreign affairs supremo.

The US welcomed the choice, saying it would make Europe a stronger partner. However, the BBC's Jonny Dymond in Brussels says there has been some dismay at the choice of two candidates with a low international profile. The post of president has become a much less important one than originally envisaged, he adds...

However, Turkish member of parliament Onur Oymen said he was concerned about what Mr Van Rompuy's presidency could mean for Turkey's aspirations to join the EU. He told the BBC's World Today that Mr Van Rompuy had "said a few years ago he was totally against Turkish membership because of religious and cultural reasons".

British newspapers said the choices would not help the EU to achieve a greater global impact and questioned whether Baroness Ashton would carry much weight in her role.

Mr Van Rompuy said he would be "discreet" in his new job, adding that he sees climate change and Europe's high unemployment as key concerns in the years ahead.

Baroness Ashton and Mr Van Rompuy were chosen unanimously by the 27 EU leaders at a summit in Brussels. Both have been seen as consensual politicians with limited foreign policy experience.

US President Barack Obama said the appointments would "strengthen the EU and enable it to be an even stronger partner to the United States". He said the US had "no stronger partner than Europe in advancing security and prosperity around the world".

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the appointments were a "milestone for Europe and for its role in the world"...

Addressing the summit after his appointment, Mr Van Rompuy said the EU was "living through exceptionally difficult times". He said the financial and climate crises "threaten our very survival" but that the problems "can be overcome by a joint effort between our countries"...

The two new posts were created by the Lisbon Treaty, which will come into force on 1 December.

The EU president will chair regular meetings of the European Council at which decisions are taken about the political position of the bloc. However, correspondents say the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, as the post is officially known, could have an even more powerful role.

Favourite to be EU President Backs 'Green Taxes'

November 16, 2009

Daily Telegraph - Herman Van Rompuy, 62, the Prime Minister of Belgium for 11 months, is expected to be installed as President of the European Council at a dinner in Brussels on Thursday of the 27 EU leaders...

Mr Van Rompuy, barely known outside Belgium, is the favoured candidate of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor.

They want a figure who will not overshadow them on the world stage who will act a chairman rather than a Presidential figure with the stature of a world leader, which was why Tony Blair’s chances faded.

He also backs proposals for the EU to be directly funded from a ring-fenced swathe of green taxes, such as fuel duty or aviation levies. It could mean all shopping and petrol station receipts in Britain could in future include the amount of VAT or fuel duty that goes directly to Brussels as an “EU tax”. The idea, championed by the federalists, is fiercely resisted by Britain.

William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, said:

“Any attempt to move the EU further towards a federal state would be unacceptable. The British people never had a chance to give their view on whether the job of president of the Council should exist at all.”

Pieter Van Clippe, of Open Europe think tank, said:

“Van Rompuy is your typical EU federalist – he isn’t going to step on anyone’s toes or try to dominate the world like Tony Blair or President Sarkozy might have – but he can be relied upon to quietly make sure that the EU gets more and more powers, with less and less say for voters.”

The Taxpayers Alliance is setting up the “Great EU debate” at http://www.greateudebate.com/where people are invited to register and express their view of Britain’s EU membership. The TPA is funding cinema adverts and publishing a book “Ten Years On: Britain without the European Union”, which paints a positive picture of Britain in 2020 outside the EU.

Storm Could Follow Calm in EU Carbon Market

November 11, 2009

Reuters - The European carbon market is bracing itself for a storm as another wave of selling by industrial companies is anticipated at the end of December or early January.

"Concerns over industrial surplus are so huge that all financial institutions are nervous," an emissions trader said.

The outcome of U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen this December will have little effect on prices for permits under the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) as world leaders are not expected to agree to a new global climate pact.

Once a famously volatile commodity, carbon has barely moved in the past six months, trading between 12 euros ($17.98) and 15.50 euros ($23.22) a tonne since June.

Since 2005, the EU ETS has imposed a cap on carbon emissions from factories and power plants in the 27-nation bloc using a fixed quota of emissions permits, called EU Allowances (EUAs).

EUA prices should not move significantly out of a 12 to 15 euro range this year, analysts said. They were trading around 13.60 euros a tonne on the European Climate Exchange on Wednesday.

"There is no fundamental reason for prices to change before Copenhagen," said Emmanuel Fages, carbon and coal analyst at Societe Generale/orbeo.

"Heading toward the end of the year, people have more or less squared their permit needs and what will happen in Copenhagen has already been written," he said.

The $126 billion global carbon market is touted to grow to $2 trillion by 2020 if nations agree to a new climate pact curbing greenhouse gas emissions and the United States introduces its own federal emissions trading scheme.

Hopes for a treaty in December faded last week when delegates at U.N. climate talks in Barcelona said a deal may need an extra year or more, beyond the original December deadline.

"Expectations are low for Copenhagen. Unless there is a very big failure it will not have a negative impact on prices," said Deutsche Bank analyst Mark C. Lewis...

Climate Deal to Prevent Doubling of Energy Bills

November 11, 2009

Reuters - A climate change deal is needed not just to ward off global warming, but to ensure a shift from increasingly costly fossil fuels that could lead to a doubling of energy bills, the IEA's chief economist said on Tuesday.

In the absence of an agreement, the ratio of energy spending to Gross Domestic Product for the largest consumer countries would double by 2030, Fatih Birol, author of the International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook (WEO) told Reuters in an interview.

"The world needs to go to the 450 part per million (ppm) target, not only because of climate change but because of growing problems within our energy system and its possible implications again on the economy," Birol said.

He was referring to a target to stabilize the concentration of the most dangerous greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere at 450 ppm of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Birol cited as an example the energy bill paid each year by the European Union which would more than double to $500 billion by 2030, up from $160 billion in the last 30 years, he said.

"We think this is very alarming. If you consider that in 2008 when we had the high prices, and I believe it was one of the reasons for the run-up to the financial crisis, the EU's oil and gas import bills to the GDP ratio was 2.3 percent," he said.

Oil prices soared to a record of nearly $150 a barrel in July last year. They then collapsed to less than $33 last December, but have since recovered to around $80.

The price collapse, combined with the credit crisis, choked off investment in new supplies and the Paris-based IEA has repeatedly warned the oil market could surge back, damaging still fragile economic growth.

Its previous WEOs on the long-term supply and demand picture have always stressed the need for investment in a wide range of energy supplies.

As the adviser to 28 industrialized nations, the IEA does not officially forecast prices, but makes assumptions as part of its analysis of future energy fundamentals.

Birol said the oil price was likely to reach $100 per barrel by 2015 and $190 by 2030.

"This means that if we don't do anything to our energy system, we will be in difficulty," he said.

CHINA TO OVERTAKE U.S.

For now the world's biggest energy spender is the United States. Demand there is still far ahead of any other consumer, but the gap is narrowing as Asian energy use is expected to grow strongly and the developed world to burn less fuel.

China, currently the second biggest energy user, would overtake the United States around 2025 as the world's top energy spender, while India would move into third place by around 2020, overtaking Japan...

Ratification of Lisbon Treaty Provokes Crisis for Britain’s Conservatives

November 10, 2009

WSWS - The Czech Republic’s ratification of the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty created a political maelstrom in the UK, exposing major divisions within the Conservative Party and the crisis facing British foreign policy more broadly.

The Czech Republic is the last of the EU’s 27 member states to ratify the treaty. With its signature, Lisbon will come into force next month along with the selection of an EU president, foreign minister and diplomats.

The treaty is a thoroughly undemocratic piece of legislation. Aimed at consolidating Europe as a political, trade and military bloc against its major rivals, it is a replacement for a proposed European Constitution scuppered by French and Dutch voters in referendums in 2005.

In an attempt to manoeuvre around opposition, the EU drafted the treaty, which retained all the features of the rejected constitution. Outside of Ireland, the 490-million strong population of Europe has had no say over its provisions. Given that the treaty is predicated on the further privatisation of social services and break-up of residual labour protection across the continent, Europe’s ruling powers are aware that it could not achieve a popular mandate...

EU Presidency, Lisbon Treaty Could Enter Into Force December 1

November 3, 2009

BBC - The Czech constitutional court has ruled that the Lisbon Treaty is in line with the constitution, clearing the way for President Vaclav Klaus to sign it. The Czech Republic is the only EU member yet to ratify the treaty, and the decision removes the penultimate hurdle to its passage. The Eurosceptic Mr Klaus, who was awaiting the court's decision, has said he will not further oppose the treaty.

The treaty was drawn up to streamline decision-making in the 27-member body. Its supporters say it will allow the bloc to operate more efficiently and give it greater influence in world affairs. Critics say it will cede too many national powers to Brussels.

If Mr Klaus signs, that will pave the way for the treaty to come into effect throughout the EU as early as 1 December.

"The Treaty of Lisbon should now enter into force by the end of the year," said European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek.

The Czech president has been seen as the last major obstacle to the passage of the treaty, but he has recently appeared satisfied with a promised opt-out from the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights.

LISBON TREATY
Creates new post of EU president (President of European Council)
New post of high representative for foreign affairs
More decisions by majority vote rather than unanimity
Ratified by all member states except Czech Republic
Only Irish Republic held referendum on it - twice ('Yes' vote second time)
Took a decade of negotiations
Was intended to take effect in January 2009

Mr Klaus has said the opt-out was essential to avoid property claims from ethnic Germans, 2.5 million of whom were expelled from Czechoslovakia after World War II.

The BBC's Rob Cameron in Prague says no-one knows when Mr Klaus might sign the document, though it looks like he will have no reason not to.

The Czech constitutional court had been considering a case brought by 17 Eurosceptic senators who said the treaty would create a super-state, and as such would infringe Czech sovereignty.

Following the court's ruling on Tuesday, Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer said he was satisfied with the verdict, adding that there was now "no obstacle to the ratification."

The Lisbon Treaty replaced an earlier draft constitution, which was rejected in referendums in France and the Netherlands in 2005.

It would create the post of a new European Council president who would serve a term of two-and-a-half years. It also provides for a new foreign policy chief, combining the posts of the existing foreign affairs representative and the external affairs commissioner.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he hoped the EU could move "as quickly as possible" to make appointments to the new posts following the Czech court's ruling.

FACTBOX: Main Points of EU's Lisbon Reform Treaty

Czech Court Lifts Barrier to EU Lisbon Treaty

November 3, 2009

Reuters - The Czech Constitutional Court threw out a complaint against the EU's Lisbon Treaty on Tuesday, removing one of the final obstacles to its ratification.

The ruling allows euroskeptic President Vaclav Klaus to sign the treaty, which will give the EU its first long-term president and streamline decision-making in the bloc of nearly half a billion people.

The Czech Republic is the only EU member that has not yet ratified the pact, which needs the consent of all of 27 states to come into force.

"I believe that no further unnecessary delays should prevent the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a statement, adding that he hoped the EU could move forward as quickly as possible on nominating a long-term president.

Klaus had been banned by law from signing the treaty until the court had ruled on a complaint by his allies in the Czech upper house of parliament, the Senate, who argued the treaty would erode national sovereignty.

The court rejected the arguments. "The judgment was unanimous; none of the judges filed a dissenting opinion to either the judgment or its reasoning," the court said in a written verdict.

The treaty is aimed at giving the EU a bigger clout on the world scene and making it more flexible. This is intended to match the rise of emerging powers such as China.

The Czech parliament has approved the pact but Klaus long argued against it, saying it would turn the EU into a superstate with little democratic control.

However, Klaus said he would raise no further obstacles to the document after EU leaders agreed last week to give the Czechs an opt-out from a rights charter attached to the treaty. Klaus says the exemption is necessary to avoid property claims by Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia after World War Two.

"It is now time surely that the European Union moves on, not talking about the institutional arrangements for years ahead, but talking about the vital problems that all of us face -- and that is creating jobs, creating growth, building a safer and more secure environment and building greater security for European people," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said.

His comments were echoed by European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek.

"The final hurdle has been cleared for Klaus to sign and finalize ratification. The treaty should now enter into force by the end of the year," he told Reuters after the court ruling.

"Due legal process has been accomplished, the Czechs have been assured of their opt-outs and we look forward now to the implementation of the treaty," he said.

Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer welcomed the verdict and said he expected Klaus to sign now...