|
EU: British walk-out over Giscard âtrickâ
via instapunditBritain's representative on the elite body drafting a European Constitution stormed out of a crucial meeting last night in protest at last-minute changes to the text that were deemed profoundly threatening by Westminster and other national parliaments. Gisela Stuart, a Labour MP, reacted with fury to efforts by Valery Giscard d'Estaing, who heads the drafting team, to sneak through new clauses that would change the character of the European Union. "These issues had never been discussed before by the praesidium, and there was no justification for adding them now," she said. "I told them this was getting silly, I had a plane to catch, and I wasn't even going talk about them." The offending clauses were a back-door move to allow future treaty changes to be made without requiring ratification by national parliaments. The Spanish and Danish representatives also protested, forcing M Giscard d'Estaing to pull the text off the table. given the attempts at French control of the EU, why would anyone offer up their sovereignty? For the financial benefits? Anyone seen a French budget in the black lately? Posted by: Frank G 2003-06-08 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=15220 |