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Valentin Villenave wrote:
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<pre wrap=""> On 23/04/2008, Reinier Bakels <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:r.bakels@planet.nl"><r.bakels@planet.nl></a> wrote:
>
> I THINK THE PP SHOULD REFRAIN FROM TAKING A POSITION ABOUT THE EU
> CONSTITUTION OR LISBON TREATY.
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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!
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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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Best Regards,<br>
<br>
Ole Husgaard.<br>
<br>
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