The EU Treaty - Deception, Whatever You Think of the EU

Today the leaders of the EU will assemble in Lisbon to sign the EU Treaty. Well, most of the leaders will assemble in Lisbon to sign the EU Reform Treaty. Gordon Brown won’t be there, at least not for the ceremony. Perhaps he’s afraid, given the Treaty is being signed in a monastery, that if he goes there he will be struck down by a bolt from the heavens for over a decade of thieving and mendacity.

Now the EU Reform Treaty looks a lot like the EU Constitution. Those who like the EU are celebrating the fact; those who despise the EU inevitably aren’t. I’m not going to rehash those argument, but rather take a look at how this Treaty shows one of the more damning problems of the EU.

In his (slightly rambling) chapter on the EU in The Orange Book, Nick Clegg states that one of the problems of the EU is the fact that it exists in a state of permanent revolution. Clegg bemoans the difficult position of Europhiles like him to make the case for the EU, when no-one really knows what it stands for. The same case can be made for the Eurosceptics. Whilst there is not shortage of scorn and bile thrown at the EU, it is much more difficult to hit a moving target. But the state of constant flux within the EU is not so much the problem as the way in which the EU tries to overcome the various barriers and problems that are thrown at it.

The EU Constitution was the great hope for those who wanted further European integration. The stumbling block came when two countries rejected the Constitution. So, after a "period of reflection", the EU presents the EU Reform Treaty – a watered down version of the Constitution where the main differences are largely cosmetic (such as the use of the EU flag). However the fundamental difference is that this time it is a treaty – which means that almost all countries won’t have to go to their pesky electorates to get the Treaty ratified. The national governments can simply give it the nod.

So the EU – which is, in theory, a democratic institution that should be representing the will of the people – has noted the disapproval of (at least) two national electorates, but decided to plough on anyway with a largely identical proposal. However this time it is one that doesn’t need to be put to the people.

Ultimately, even if you are a Europhile and believe the Treaty is a useful and important document, you should concede that the way the EU Reform Treaty has been created does the EU no favours. It shows the EU to be undemocratic, arrogant and devious. The EU has got their Reform Treaty, but will have won few new friends with this, and potentially made a number of new enemies.