The Swedish Council on Legislation (Lagrådet) has given its expert opinion on the government’s draft ratification bill concerning the EU Treaty of Lisbon. The legal opinion, dated 13 June 2008, draws on the earlier statement on the Constitutional Treaty to conclude that the proposed ratification does not require amendments to the Swedish Constitution.
The legal opinion can be accessed at:
http://www.lagradet.se/yttranden/Lissabonfordraget.pdf
This means that the government of Sweden can send the bill to parliament without constitutional complications.
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On the political side, foreign minister Carl Bildt has reiterated his mantra that Irelend decides for Ireland, and Sweden decides for Sweden.
Ralf Grahn
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
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"Irelend decides for Ireland, and Sweden decides for Sweden."
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what I'm thinking. Ireland made a choice for itself, so is every country making choices for itself. Every choice earns the same respect. A no-vote does not earn more respect than a yes-vote.
European Union Law Blog,
ReplyDeleteYes, this goes for continuing the ratification process. Each country makes its own decision.
But the absurdity of unanimous ratification (and unanimous decisions) - liberum veto - means that the European Union is a house of cards, brought down by the slightest puff of air on the international scene, and therefore unable to guarantee the security of Europeans.
And, like Poland in its day, 'liberum veto' has made the EU virtually unreformable.
This I grieve.
On the other hand, since we are stuck in the world of international law, if even a group of countries decide to rescind the treaties, they could replace them and move on to something workable.
P.S. There was an interesting article on Open Europe about referendums in a European context on Open Democracy. I recommend reading it. (Unsurprisingly, its conclusions are the same as mine.)
"On the other hand, since we are stuck in the world of international law, if even a group of countries decide to rescind the treaties, they could replace them and move on to something workable."
ReplyDeleteThough that's the complex part of it many do not understand and therefore keep on believing in the illusion that one state can hold 26 other states back from making up their minds.
European Union Law Blog,
ReplyDeleteFudge and procrastination has been the proven formula for European integration, so we should not raise our hopes too high.
After UK ratification and Chancellor Merkel's latest remarks we may be entering a period of 'nothing new on the treaty front', at least for a while.