NEWSLETTER 26 September 2004The European Union Commission |
There is a busy autumn ahead. Here are a few dates to look out for, which will affect your future. In the next two weeks in Brussels, the 25 new candidate EU Commissioners - who will replace Kinnock, Patten, Prodi, and co - will be grilled by committees in the European Parliament. If MEPs vote approval of the appointments, then the new Commissioners will take office for five years from 1st November. These Commissioners are the Executive arm of the European Union - as opposed to its two separate legislative arms. The upper legislative house is called the Council and represents the member states' interests. The lower legislative house, the European Parliament, represents you and the voters. This separation of powers is the same as in Washington DC, where the President is the executive arm but he must seek approval from the two separate legislative bodies, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Peter Mandelson, nominated personally by Tony Blair, will be appearing before a parliamentary committee on Monday 4th October. The European Parliament is a public place and our committees meet openly. If you want to come and watch, I suspect you had better get there very early. Of the 25 candidate commissioners, only two do not speak a second language. All but one speaks English. Slovenia On Sunday 3rd October, there will be a General Election in Slovenia which is the newest state in the European Union. Its Liberal government is hoping to win a fourth consecutive term in power. Of the 25 national governments in the EU, twelve have Liberals in power or sharing power. Maybe the UK will be next. Turkey On Wednesday 6th October, the EU Commission will publish its formal Opinion about whether Turkey has made sufficient progress for negotiations to be opened in December, for it to join the European Union one day. Did you notice, last week, that the largest party in the Turkish parliament in Ankara, which is islamic, intended to pass a law making adultery a criminal offence. They backed off when they were told that the EU did not approve because it would be a violation of basic rights and discriminated particularly against women.. It seems that the Turks are serious about joining us. EU Constitution On 29th October, all the 25 prime ministers of the EU's member states will meet and put their signatures to the proposed EU Constitution. This is the new set of rules for running a Union of 25, which is needed because the old rules were not designed for the present day. Then the ratification process by 25 national parliaments begins. Up to fifteen of the member states are expected to hold referendums before their parliaments can vote approval. My guess is that the British referendum will be held in the spring of 2006, one of the last. US Presidential Election And, in early November, comes the American presidential election. In my opinion, it will be a disaster if George Dubya Bush is re-elected. The choice, made by the half of the American population which bothers to vote, will certainly have a serious effect on our world. Blair's dictatorial powers Finally, looking back to last week, I am sure you noticed the brouhaha about the bill at Westminster to abolish hunting with hounds in Britain. In other EU countries, it will continue to be allowed. What was so clever of Blair is to allow this distraction to capture the headlines, so that almost nobody noticed what also went through the Commons at the same time. It was called the Civil Contingencies Bill - and gives the Cabinet total dictatorial power in a national emergency. Far more power than Winston Churchill ever enjoyed in World War Two. He had to report to the Commons. This bill gives our national ministers virtually unlimited powers, to do anything they think fit, to disapply any previous Act of Parliament - maybe to bring back the hounds but somehow I doubt it - to issue any regulations they think fit, to forbid travel, to order seizure of or destruction property, to ban assemblies of people, and all enforced by criminal penalties. Finally, on a positive note, there is a new internet portal to help the public about European issues. Its address is http://europa.eu.int/citizensrights/ |
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Newsletter 8 July 2003 - European Constitution |