[pp.int.general] stop about the EU Constitution!

[Ole Husgaard]

Valentin Villenave wrote:
>>  On 23/04/2008, Reinier Bakels <r.bakels at planet.nl> wrote:
>>  >
>>  > I THINK THE PP SHOULD REFRAIN FROM TAKING A POSITION ABOUT THE EU
>>  > CONSTITUTION OR LISBON TREATY.
>>     
>
> Without regarding the treaty as "evil", I think "democratic deficit"
> is exactly why we should care about the Lisbon treaty. Look: in
> France, a large majority of the *people* voted against the first
> treaty in 2005, and yet today our parliament has chosen to adopt a new
> treaty which is merely nothing else but a copy of the former one!
>   
Yes, in Denmark we were also supposed to vote on the "constitution" 
treaty, but the vote was cancelled. Now our government has decided that 
we should not vote, with the explanation that they do not think the 
Lisbon treaty means that the member countries have to give up 
soverenity. The real reason is probably that our population would reject 
the treaty. I really like the idea of the European Union, in particular 
the inner market and the common currency. But I think the EU is 
currently structured in a way that makes it too easy to abuse the 
system, and there is too little democratic control. Also, I think the EU 
is sometimes trying to move too fast. For example I have voted "no" 
three times for Denmark to participate in the common currency (yes, 
there seems to be a new popular vote every time the polls indicate a 
"yes" vote), on the grounds that the inner market needs more time to 
converge our economies first, to avoid social unrest in case of economic 
depression.

But: The pirate parties are neither for nor against the EU, so what I 
wrote above isn't really relevant. We have to acknowledge that the EU is 
here. From there we can point out what we like and dislike about it (and 
changes like the Lisbon treaty) from a pirate point of view.

I think this is important to do, and this is why I think this discussion 
is good. But we should not start out with discussing if we are for or 
against Lisbon - that would be the conclusion. First we have to discuss 
the various changes, and if we like or dislike them. I think there are 
both changes that we like (like more power to the EU Parliament) and 
dislike (like protection of "intellectual property"). After having 
discussed and agreed on the various changes, we might agree to a 
conclusion on whether we are for or against the Lisbon treaty.

Best Regards,

Ole Husgaard.

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