08 August 2007

Not the EU Constitution

Open Europe has this delicious must-read about Europe's new "amending treaty":

Freudian slip

A couple of weeks ago Gordon Brown accidentally talked at a press conference about how he had discussed "the Constitution" with the Irish PM.

But he isn't the only one making that Freudian slip. It turns out that the Portuguese presidency of the EU have also left in a couple of references to "the Constitution" in the new text of the Constitution "Reform Treaty".

Article 4 of the "new" treaty (a.k.a. Article I-14 of the Constitution) states that "The Union shall share competence with the Member States where the Constitution confers on it a competence which does not relate to the areas referred to in Articles [I-13 and 17].

Article 188c(6) of the "new treaty (a.k.a. article III-315 of the Constitution) states that: "The exercise of the competences conferred by this Article in the field of the common commercial policy shall not affect the delimitation of competences between the Union and the Member States, and shall not lead to harmonisation of legislative or regulatory provisions of the Member States insofar as the Constitution excludes such harmonisation."
As they say, "Ooops!"paper chain europeans : the cut-and-paste treaty [Credit: European anti-poverty network]

2 comments:

Archbishop Cranmer said...

His Grace has consulted with a knowledgeable and learned doctor, and he reports that the 'Treaty' is a draft awaiting approval at the IGC.

It includes in its preface:

This document is only a working document for examination by the IGC. The cross-references between Articles which appear in square brackets will, as usual, be corrected by the Legal/Linguistic experts when they finalise the text of the Reform Treaty before it is signed.

Such 'linguistic' irregularities will therefore be ironed out in due course. Translation is only really ever transliteration...

Anonymous said...

Try to avoid being Brown-mailed. Vote about the future of Europe at www.FreeEurope.info. Vote YES to Free Europe Constitution.