The Dáil and Seanad should insist on parliamentary control over the Taoiseach and Government Ministers in exercising the self-amending powers of the Lisbon Treaty, just as the German Constitutional Court requires the German Parliament to do.
☛ Continue reading ⚠Irish Dáil should not have inferior powers to the German Parliament in controlling Irish Government Ministers when exercising the Lisbon Treaty’s self-amending powers
|
||||||
|
Below for your information is a news item received from Open Europe, London, on the German Constitutional Court’s decision of this morning on the Lisbon Treaty. Appended to this post is an ☛on-site link to the Constitutional Court’s decision in English. It seems that the Constitutional Court is saying that Germany, at least , must ensure that their parliament - both houses - participates in major EU decisions. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung says the Constitutional Court ruling is demanding a law to guarantee the rights of the German Parliament in the EU decision-making process. If that is so, should not Oireachtas Eireann have a law requiring this too - and Westminster and Paris and Prague and Bucharest, and 22 others? Should not all EU National Parliaments also have “participation in European lawmaking procedures”? McCreevy: 95% of countries would probably have voted No in Lisbon Treaty referendums CREDIT: Open Europe
The central point to grasp about the current EU Summit proceedings on the Lisbon Treaty is that Messrs Brian Cowen’s and Micheál Martin’s “legally binding guarantees” to meet Irish voters’ concerns do not change a jot or tittle of that Treaty. If they changed even a comma, the Lisbon Treaty would become a different Treaty and would have to be ratified again from scratch by the National Parliaments of the 27 EU Member States. EU politicians cannot change the treaties, or their effects, just by signing a new agreement: the Court of Justice will always say that the provisions of a fully ratified European Treaty trump any attempt to modify the operation of the Treaty through an unratified agreement. …Some questions for Taoiseach Cowen and Minister Martin to answer: Why have Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Foreign Minister Micheál narrowed the scope of the Lisbon “guarantee” on protecting the right to life, family and education in the Irish Constitution to one small area of the Lisbon Treaty? The National Platform EU Research and Information Centre is based in Ireland at 24 Crawford Avenue, Dublin 9. It advocates a Europe of Independent, Democratic, Cooperating Nation States WHO ARE WE: The National Platform EU Research and Information Centre is a voluntary research and information body on EU affairs. Its Director is Anthony Coughlan, who is an economist and Senior Lecturer Emeritus in Social Policy, Trinity College Dublin. He acts as coordinator of a loose group of lawyers, economists and politically interested people who come to the fore when their expertise is needed. The group seeks to produce legally accurate documentation on EU matters for the use of organisations and individuals on the centre, left and right of Irish politics who are concerned at the development of the EU in an undemocratic and highly centralised direction. Its members stand for a Europe of independent, democratic and cooperating Nation States. OUR ORIGINS: In 1986 when the Irish Government sought to ratify the Single European Act (Treaty) by majority vote of the Dáil (Parliament), a number of professional lawyers along with Anthony Coughlan and others advanced the view that, according to the Irish Constitution, the surrender of sovereignty to Brussels which the SEA involved could only be done by the Irish people themselves in a referendum. They invited the late Raymond Crotty, the distinguished economist, to challenge the Irish Government’s proposed mode of ratification in the Courts, which he courageously did. In its judgement the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Crotty. It is the Irish people, not its politicians, who alone can amend the country’s basic law, the Constitution. Any surrender of sovereignty to the European institutions must therefore be decided by the people themselves in a referendum. Therefore the Single European Act could only be ratified by popular referendum, not by parliamentary majority vote. This referendum was duly held in 1987 and the Single European Act(Treaty) passed into law, having received majority approval of the people. It is because of this Crotty judgement that successive EU Treaties have had to be put to referendum in Ireland. Activities: The National Platform EU Research and Information Centre has been actively involved in all subsequent EC/EU referendums, mainly in providing documentation and a speaker service to other organisations. It was also involved in supporting the McKenna(1995) and Coughlan(2000) cases before the Irish High Court and Supreme Court. These led to two important Supreme Court judgements governing fair referendum procedures. The McKenna judgement prevents the Irish Government from using public funds to obtain a particular result in a referendum. The Coughlan judgement requires that there should be equality in the allocation of free broadcasting time in referendums. The National Platform EU Research and Information Centre is affiliated to The European Alliance of EU-critical Movements(TEAM) and its Director is President of the Foundation for EU Democracy, Brussels. It has no party-political, religious or ideological affiliations or orientation, apart from supporting the principle of a Europe of independent, democratic, cooperating Nation States. Between one half and two-thirds of legal acts affecting Ireland each year now come from Brussels. The European Treaties amending the Irish Constitution on which referendums have been held are: Ireland’s Accession Treaty to the European Communties (1972)
|
||||||
|
Copyright © 2009 The National Platform EU Research & Information Centre ☚ - All Rights Reserved |
||||||