Faith and begorrah, the Poles and the Germans are having second thoughts about the Lisbon
It seems the Irish defiance opened the gates to the corral and there may be no retrieving some of the other restless horses after all. First the Poles [my emphasis below — D]:
Polish President Lech Kaczynski announced in an interview published Tuesday that he will not sign the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, saying it was pointless after Irish voters rejected it in a referendum last month.
“For the moment, the question of the treaty is pointless,” Kaczynski was quoted as saying in the online version of the daily Dziennik.The Polish parliament voted in April to ratify the Lisbon Treaty, a key reform treaty meant to streamline EU decision-making, but it needs the signature of the president to become definitive.
[…]
Kaczynksi’s refusal to ratify the treaty is a serious blow to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has set himself the task with finding a way of overcoming the Irish rejection of the treaty as France takes over the six-month rotating EU presidency on Tuesday.
Well, that makes it even more interesting. Sarkozy is a charismatic fellow to some, and he may think he has a better chance of rounding up the mustangs than the other cowboys. That remains to be seen...
Meanwhile, the Germans are doing a slower gallop off the EU ranch, via their Constitutional Court:
- - - - - - - - -
German President Horst Koehler will not sign off on the ratification of the embattled EU’s Lisbon Treaty until the country’s Constitutional Court decides whether the reform accord is compatible with the country’s Basic Law, his office said on Monday, June 30.
Koehler has decided to heed a request from the Constitutional Court not to add his signature to the embattled reform treaty pending its ruling, his office said in a statement.
Koehler’s functions are mainly ceremonial, but he has sometimes used his limited powers to block government legislation.
[…]
Koehler’s move has put Germany in a tricky situation given that the European heavyweight had pressed EU nations to ratify the treaty as soon as possible after the Irish rejection.
Sooo…that’s three down and how many to go before the stampede begins?
Anybody got a pool going on this one?
Hat tip: Queen of Bohemia
7 comments:
We have a backlash:
Germany is proceeding with ratification.
This is poised to be one hell of ugly infighting...
It seems the Irish defiance opened the gates to the corral and there may be no retrieving some of the other restless horses after all.
:)
And dont forget czechs. Their PM is also uniclined to ratify the treaty.
But what about the germans.
"We have a backlash:
Germany is proceeding with ratification."
Does anyone has any confirmation of that??
The poles are just angling for more hand-outs,as they did over the sodomy issue,they were bought off then and they will allow themselves to be bought off again.The germans have no soverignty,since they will be under american hegemony until 2099,so what they do is contingent upon what the americans want,for they only have an armistice,not a peace treaty,no doubt merkel has already recieved her instructions from bush,we can only wait to see what they are.
Interesting about Germany. I thought I had read that the German supreme court had ruled "Sure, give away our sovereignty", but I can't find it.
A wonderful tool for checking this that I'd like to share is Google News. Now anyone can do a 1-minute research on a subject like this. That's pretty cool.
The court had asked Köhler to wait with him signing it until they have made a decision. That's basically all - the same thing happened back in 2006. Right now it's quite unlikely they make a decision this year.
Good news about Germany. Deceit depends partly on speed, and stalling is a worthwhile tool to apply.
For Poland, the latest (AFP interview) is that the president says clearly that without a new referendum (and he adds "without pressure"), he will not sign the Lisbon Treaty.
Others are trying to bully him by stating that it's all about Polish interior politics. I don't quite believe that.
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