|
Frankenreich in a spin
France and Germany have responded with anger to British demands for more clarification on the EU constitution's national vetoes. Joschka Fischer and Michel Barnier, the German and French foreign ministers, warned Britain's Jack Straw that he should not use "salami tactics" to slice up more of the constitution. Fischer and Barnier fear that Britain is using the promised referendum on the treaty as leverage to wring more concessions on national independence. Straw and Prime Minister Tony Blair claim to have secured most of Britain's "red lines" in areas of taxation, finance, criminal justice, defence and foreign policy. However, as the pace of the negotiations has hotted up, the government is eager to ensure that no loopholes are left in the text which could allow British sovereignty to be undermined in future.Particular attention has fallen on the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which Britain fears could lead to the European Court obliging Britain to enforce stifling EU-style labour legislation. Workers' groups could take their complaints to the Euro-court, which might then be able to exploit ambiguous clauses in the Charter to impose its ruling on the UK. Posted by: Anonymous2U 2004-05-18 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=33331 |