EU Referendum


Eurocrash: countdown to treaty


12/09/2012



Barroso 368-dig.jpg
 

The full Barroso "state of the union" speech is now available online, with a report also from our state broadcaster, the BBC.

I am still reading the speech and absorbing the details. But there can be no doubt now, no doubt at all. We are on our way to a new EU treaty. The "money quote" is as follows:

Today, I call for a federation of nation states. Not a superstate. A democratic federation of nation states that can tackle our common problems, through the sharing of sovereignty in a way that each country and each citizen are better equipped to control their own destiny. This is about the Union with the Member States, not against the Member States. In the age of globalisation pooled sovereignty means more power, not less. 
And, I said it on purpose a federation of nation states because in these turbulent times these times of anxiety, we should not leave the defence of the nation just to the nationalists and populists. I believe in a Europe where people are proud of their nations but also proud to be European and proud of our European values. Creating this federation of nation states will ultimately require a new Treaty.
"Our citizens and the new world order need an active and influential Europe", he says, and he means to get it. The commission, he promises, will present explicit proposals for the necessary treaty changes ahead of the next EU parliamentary election in 2014, "including elements for reinforced democracy and accountability".

Now we are beginning to see the emergence of a specific timetable. That referendum we have wanted for so long just took a lurch closer.