Treaty of Lisbon as samizdat literature

Remember the days of clandestine copying and distribution of government-suppressed literature or other media in Soviet-bloc countries? (Definition: Wikipedia) Although most comparisons between the European Union and the late Soviet Union are over the top, I am going to draw a parallel in one specific case: the Treaty of Lisbon.

The unwarranted and counter-productive refusal of the Council and other institutions of the European Union to publish consolidated versions of the Treaty of Lisbon merits this treatment.

Naturally, the institutions themselves need consolidations in their daily internal work, but keeping them unofficial and out of reach for the general public makes a mockery of transparency and talk of re-connecting with citizens.

The bi-lingual web site Europa-eu-audience has found and published French parallel versions, circulating in the European Parliament, of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. For each Treaty the amended text and the present contents are presented side by side.

Europa-eu-audience asks why these texts are not published on paper (EU-bookshop) and on line (Eur-Lex), of course with reservations that the documents are unofficial.

I want to congratulate Europa-eu-audience on their investigative work and on publishing these tools for interested parties.

Every chink in the armour makes the institutions of the European Union and the governments of the member states look more mean-spirited and ridiculous, deservedly.

Instead of user-friendly information we have samizdat literature in the European Union A.D. 2007.

The time is ripe for the European Council to admit that it made a serious miscalculation, and to rectify its mistake with lightning speed.


Ralf Grahn


Sources:

Wikipedia: Samizdat; http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Samizdat&oldid=168603756

Europa-eu-audience & en.europa-eu-audience: « Traité consolidé de Lisbonne » en français ( non officiel ) / “Consolidated Treaty of Lisbon” (French versions, non official); 3 December 2007;
http://europa-eu-audience.typepad.com/