By Stuart Turner

Why the Lisbon Treaty must be put to the electorate!

The European constitution should have been dead and buried after being voted down by 55% of French voters and 62% of Dutch voters. But like Banquo came back to haunt Macbeth, so the European constitution has come back to haunt our Nation in the form of the Lisbon treaty.

Despite all three major political parties promising a referendum on the European constitution in their 2005 election manifestos, and despite senior European politicians, including the Spanish foreign minister ‘Miguel Angel Moratinos’ admitting that the Lisbon treaty and the European constitution are virtually identical. Labour and Gordon Brown have reneged on their promise of a referendum on the European constitution and have subsequently signed the Lisbon treaty.

This not only represents a betrayal of the voters who supported Labour and their manifesto in the 2005 general election, but it also represents a betrayal of the whole nation, since the Lisbon treaty threatens many of our vetoes, undermines our international status and could potentially rob us of our national resources!

Paragraph 18 of the IGC gives a mandate to the intergovernmental conference to enact virtually all the increases of ‘EU’ power that were provided for in the original ‘EU’ constitution. One of the areas covered by this paragraph is energy, which when allied to articles 100 and 176 giving powers to Brussels to ensure “the security of energy supply” with decisions taken by majority vote. Alongside the additional stipulation that “states must share reserves in a crisis”- with British North Sea oil and gas making up the bulk of the EU’s untapped natural resources, would allow the EU to commandeer these resources – as opposed to paying for these resources on the open market – as and when the commission believes the continents energy supply to be threatened. Of course with Russia playing politics with gas supplies going into Europe via the Ukraine this could happen sooner rather than later, I need not remind you what happens when natural resources are shared, just consider the state of our fish stocks in the North Sea now that this resource is governed by the Common Fisheries policy.

The charter of fundamental rights gives the European judges the means to decide more of our laws, particularly in the areas of asylum and criminal justice. This provision is especially alarming as there will be a transfer of power from our democratically elected parliament, to judges with no democratic mandate. However, the transfer of powers from democratic to undemocratic institutions whilst alarming are not the only problem, since the ability to have a monopoly over the criminal justice system is the primary attribute of nationhood. When the EU gains these powers from its member states a significant step toward a federal Europe is made!

The Lisbon treaty also allows the EU to adopt a single legal personality and to appoint a foreign minister. The ‘EU’ foreign minister will chair foreign ministers meetings, have his own diplomatic service and will in some circumstances speak for the whole ‘EU’ at the UN Security Council. When allied to the single legal personality of the ‘EU’ allowing the commission to sign treaties on our behalf, the only logical conclusion is that foreign powers from outside the EU will pass over the foreign office in Westminster and appeal to the foreign office in Brussels, our own independent voice outside of the ‘EU’ will be crowded out, making Westminster even more irrelevant.

All of the powers discussed represent a transfer or power from Westminster to Brussels, further undermining our ability to take decisions in the National interest. For this reason not only must we put the Lisbon treaty to a referendum, but we must also campaign with vigour and determination for a ‘NO’ vote, the future of our status as an independent nation depends upon it!

Pactio Olisipiensis Censenda Est!

photo: Wikipedia

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