Take a stroll down the Wikipedia article on the Treaty of Lisbon until you reach the updated table of ratifications. (Yes, formal German ratification is has been noted.)
By now, the national parliaments in 26 member states have approved the Lisbon Treaty, and they are all hoping for Ireland to join them after Friday’s referendum.
Given the varying domestic political scenes, it is almost a miracle that any new treaty can reach this far, but one striking feature is how large the majorities have been in most national parliaments.
Would they vote for the amending treaty without good reason?
Ralf Grahn
Showing posts with label Wikipedia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wikipedia. Show all posts
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Monday, 23 March 2009
Gibraltar & Lisbon Treaty
A while back I wrote that the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Gibraltar have not answered my questions about possible approval of the EU Treaty of Lisbon in Gibraltar.
The geographical scope - Article 355(3) and (4) TFEU - includes the Aland Islands and Gibraltar (additionally Declaration 55), but the Wikipedia article on the Lisbon Treaty reports that these territories with self-rule are to decide on the applicability in their territories.
The Wikipedia information is correct as to Aland, but I had failed to find information to confirm or deny that Gibraltar would need to approve the Lisbon Treaty.
***
Today I received an answer from the Minister of Justice of Gibraltar D A Feetham, saying that Gibraltar is part of the European Union by virtue of UK membership on the basis that the UK is responsible for the external affairs of the territory. Gibraltar is not a Member State and does not ratify treaties.
Once the Lisbon Treaty is ratified by the UK it will then be applicable to Gibraltar.
***
I am grateful for the response.
A few remarks:
The answer is official, so the editors of the Wikipedia article on the Lisbon Treaty need to take the position into account.
The autonomy of the Aland Islands is roughly comparable, but there the treaty needs to be approved with regard to its territory and the policy areas pertaining to self rule (and my question did not imply formal ratification).
The answer does not contain any legal references, but if someone has more exact information to share, I am grateful.
The concept ‘external affairs’ is given a wide interpretation for direct applicability, given the subject matter of the EU treaties (a number of internal policy areas, some of which probably are included in Gibraltarian self-rule).
The United Kingdom has ratified the Treaty of Lisbon, so its entry into force awaits the final ratifications by the last member states.
The UK FCO has not responded yet.
Ralf Grahn
The geographical scope - Article 355(3) and (4) TFEU - includes the Aland Islands and Gibraltar (additionally Declaration 55), but the Wikipedia article on the Lisbon Treaty reports that these territories with self-rule are to decide on the applicability in their territories.
The Wikipedia information is correct as to Aland, but I had failed to find information to confirm or deny that Gibraltar would need to approve the Lisbon Treaty.
***
Today I received an answer from the Minister of Justice of Gibraltar D A Feetham, saying that Gibraltar is part of the European Union by virtue of UK membership on the basis that the UK is responsible for the external affairs of the territory. Gibraltar is not a Member State and does not ratify treaties.
Once the Lisbon Treaty is ratified by the UK it will then be applicable to Gibraltar.
***
I am grateful for the response.
A few remarks:
The answer is official, so the editors of the Wikipedia article on the Lisbon Treaty need to take the position into account.
The autonomy of the Aland Islands is roughly comparable, but there the treaty needs to be approved with regard to its territory and the policy areas pertaining to self rule (and my question did not imply formal ratification).
The answer does not contain any legal references, but if someone has more exact information to share, I am grateful.
The concept ‘external affairs’ is given a wide interpretation for direct applicability, given the subject matter of the EU treaties (a number of internal policy areas, some of which probably are included in Gibraltarian self-rule).
The United Kingdom has ratified the Treaty of Lisbon, so its entry into force awaits the final ratifications by the last member states.
The UK FCO has not responded yet.
Ralf Grahn
Thursday, 12 February 2009
EU law basics: European Parliamentary elections 2009?
Yesterday I tried to find easily accessible information about the upcoming European Parliamentary elections, to be held in June 2009. My chosen prism was that of an EU citizen politically interested enough to find out or a student with an assigned task to present the basics of the electoral system.
In other words, I imagine that I was more diligent than the usual reader, but not rigorous enough to unearth every buried nugget. The information had to be accessible.
***
What did I find?
In short, the Commission web pages refer to the newly launched portal of the European Parliament ‘European Elections ─ It’s your choice!’.
The Council links to the same web page, but if you look for ‘elections 2009’ with the general search function you end up with a lot of valuable information about elections elsewhere than in the European Union.
Clearly, among the EU institutions the directly elected European Parliament is the place to go if you want tangible information. At first appearances, it seemed right. The EP has just launched web pages aimed at informing the public (but when I retried a moment ago, the pages were down).
Anyway, yesterday there were pages with short texts about the upcoming European elections and links to pages on the elections in the individual member states.
For the more serious students there was little to find on two fundamental aspects: 1) the European level rules on the EP elections and 2) the rights and obligations of the members of the European Parliament we are about to elect.
I have little against hoopla ─ light snippets and visual entertainment ─ if public information still covers the basics. But without at least referrals to the laws, regulations and administrative decisions public information becomes mere infotainment.
***
EP ─ It’s your choice!
There is no need for my criticism to blacken the EP election page makers’ day for too long. First of all, the launch of the election pages is a huge step. All the needed knowledge is readily available in-house. Now it is just a question of making some serious additional information available to the public.
***
Wikipedia
In my view, the EU institutions did less well than Wikipedia in covering the basics of the European elections 2009. This said with some reservations.
I believe that I found articles in ten EU languages (out of 23 official ones and a host of regional and minority languages).
Wikipedia was all right if you read the English or the Spanish version (if I remember correctly), but in many languages the articles were mere stubs, in dire need of writing and editing.
But even the best articles were somewhat short on the harder legal basics. As a fan of Wikipedia, I hope for continued efforts, especially with regard to the ‘smaller’ languages.
***
National sites
I worked through basic Google searches on the European Parliamentary elections 2009 in just a few EU languages.
There were, of course, discussions by and about candidates, but my primary interest was to see what governments and scholars had to offer on the (European) rules concerning the EP elections 2009 as well as the rights and duties of MEPs.
The United Kingdom offered clear official information about national election law, but I think that the only exact reference to an EU document was in Spanish (referring to the status of the voting rights of residents who are citizens of other EU countries). A Maltese page referred to an EU web page on the status of such intra-EU ex-pats.
The search was far from extensive, but it tends to support the view that there is a missing link between the European level and national government information.
If the European Parliament does not fill this void, who will?
Ralf Grahn
In other words, I imagine that I was more diligent than the usual reader, but not rigorous enough to unearth every buried nugget. The information had to be accessible.
***
What did I find?
In short, the Commission web pages refer to the newly launched portal of the European Parliament ‘European Elections ─ It’s your choice!’.
The Council links to the same web page, but if you look for ‘elections 2009’ with the general search function you end up with a lot of valuable information about elections elsewhere than in the European Union.
Clearly, among the EU institutions the directly elected European Parliament is the place to go if you want tangible information. At first appearances, it seemed right. The EP has just launched web pages aimed at informing the public (but when I retried a moment ago, the pages were down).
Anyway, yesterday there were pages with short texts about the upcoming European elections and links to pages on the elections in the individual member states.
For the more serious students there was little to find on two fundamental aspects: 1) the European level rules on the EP elections and 2) the rights and obligations of the members of the European Parliament we are about to elect.
I have little against hoopla ─ light snippets and visual entertainment ─ if public information still covers the basics. But without at least referrals to the laws, regulations and administrative decisions public information becomes mere infotainment.
***
EP ─ It’s your choice!
There is no need for my criticism to blacken the EP election page makers’ day for too long. First of all, the launch of the election pages is a huge step. All the needed knowledge is readily available in-house. Now it is just a question of making some serious additional information available to the public.
***
Wikipedia
In my view, the EU institutions did less well than Wikipedia in covering the basics of the European elections 2009. This said with some reservations.
I believe that I found articles in ten EU languages (out of 23 official ones and a host of regional and minority languages).
Wikipedia was all right if you read the English or the Spanish version (if I remember correctly), but in many languages the articles were mere stubs, in dire need of writing and editing.
But even the best articles were somewhat short on the harder legal basics. As a fan of Wikipedia, I hope for continued efforts, especially with regard to the ‘smaller’ languages.
***
National sites
I worked through basic Google searches on the European Parliamentary elections 2009 in just a few EU languages.
There were, of course, discussions by and about candidates, but my primary interest was to see what governments and scholars had to offer on the (European) rules concerning the EP elections 2009 as well as the rights and duties of MEPs.
The United Kingdom offered clear official information about national election law, but I think that the only exact reference to an EU document was in Spanish (referring to the status of the voting rights of residents who are citizens of other EU countries). A Maltese page referred to an EU web page on the status of such intra-EU ex-pats.
The search was far from extensive, but it tends to support the view that there is a missing link between the European level and national government information.
If the European Parliament does not fill this void, who will?
Ralf Grahn
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Lisbon Treaty ratification tally
For or against the EU Treaty of Lisbon? It does not matter, but facts on the ratification processes do.
One of the best sources is the Ratification section of the Wikipedia web page Treaty of Lisbon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Lisbon#Ratification
Quickly updated, with brief but sufficient remarks and exact parliamentary votes, Wikipedia serves an important information need.
Although parliamentary ratification is the essential requirement in political EU discourse, formally many member states provide for presidential signature, and the ratification instrument has to be deposited in Rome with the Italian government.
A short while ago the tally was: ratified 19 member states, not ratified 7 member states, rejected 1 member state. – The ratification instrument had been deposited by ten members.
***
Readers interested in EU politics may care to study the outcomes of the parliamentary votes. If the national heads of state or government or even the national governments can somehow be contrived to be a mysterious ‘EU elite’, what can be said about the national parliamentarians, who in almost devastating numbers have voted in favour of the Lisbon Treaty?
Do the perceptions tally with the facts?
Ralf Grahn
Update 19 June 2008: European Union Law Blog is an excellent source of Lisbon Treaty ratification news and commentary in German. Plus there is a handy ratification list in chronological order at:
http://www.law-europe.eu/ratifikationsstand/
Especially during the last days I have noticed that EUbusiness.com has been very alert with news stories on the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty in English. Go to:
http://www.eubusiness.com/
One of the best sources is the Ratification section of the Wikipedia web page Treaty of Lisbon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Lisbon#Ratification
Quickly updated, with brief but sufficient remarks and exact parliamentary votes, Wikipedia serves an important information need.
Although parliamentary ratification is the essential requirement in political EU discourse, formally many member states provide for presidential signature, and the ratification instrument has to be deposited in Rome with the Italian government.
A short while ago the tally was: ratified 19 member states, not ratified 7 member states, rejected 1 member state. – The ratification instrument had been deposited by ten members.
***
Readers interested in EU politics may care to study the outcomes of the parliamentary votes. If the national heads of state or government or even the national governments can somehow be contrived to be a mysterious ‘EU elite’, what can be said about the national parliamentarians, who in almost devastating numbers have voted in favour of the Lisbon Treaty?
Do the perceptions tally with the facts?
Ralf Grahn
Update 19 June 2008: European Union Law Blog is an excellent source of Lisbon Treaty ratification news and commentary in German. Plus there is a handy ratification list in chronological order at:
http://www.law-europe.eu/ratifikationsstand/
Especially during the last days I have noticed that EUbusiness.com has been very alert with news stories on the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty in English. Go to:
http://www.eubusiness.com/
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