14/04/2014
One of the refrains we get in the advanced muppetry from the anti-Article 50 brigade is that, while the negotiations are going ahead, the other side will exacts all sorts of terrible revenge against us, imposing trade sanctions and other horrors, all in retaliation for our effrontery in demanding to leave the EU.
To this we patiently, if wearily, respond that any such action would be contrary to the provisions of the Treaties, and with the EU being a rules-based organisation, we could insist that it obeys its own laws, even taking cases to the ECJ if necessary. The EU could not, therefore, take any retaliation.
The very essence of this approach is the doctrine of
pacta sunt servanta - treaties must be obeyed â to which the British government subscribes, as one of the essential foundations of the international order.
What value is there then in the director of the "think" tank
Civitas telling us (via
Brietbart in this instance) that the Westminster parliament should unpick EU laws, declare the UK Supreme Court to be the country's highest authority, and challenge the EU to "do its worst".
Sadly, the
Barclay Beano is on the case as well. It has the Muppet saying that the UK has a "moral duty" to give the Supreme Court power over the ECJ. MPs, we are told, can achieve this by passing a simple one-line amendment to the 1972 European Communities Act to declare that UK law is superior to EU law.
"Should we wait patiently for the referendum promised for 2017? Should we re-negotiate in the hope that something good might come of the process? Or should we take more rapid action?" Green posits in supprt of his proposition, a move he says would amount to a "unilateral declaration of independence ... without tearing up all EU laws and regulations in one go".
This, of course, is in complete breach of the Treaties and the provisions agreed thereunder yet that, according to his
actual report, is precisely what Green is writing. Thus, here we have a situation once again where North is on the outside looking in, commenting on the stupidity of his fellow man. And who do you think is going to get the shitstorm?
But the very obvious point is that, with the prospect of Article 50 negotiations in the offing (which are the natural outcome in the event of us winning a referendum), the very last thing we want to be doing is advocating wholesale disregard for treaty and allied provisions. In due course, we will be reliant on the good faith of our partners and their own compliance of these provisions.
One almost wishes, therefore, that the likes of Dr Green, before they wrote anything, were obliged to carry out a sort of "due diligence" â assessing the likely affect of their statements. "The EU has usurped our power to uphold liberal
civilisation. We must take back our independence, even if there is some inconvenience in the short run. It will be worth it", he says.
For this Green might just have used common sense and judged that his efforts might be better directed towards calling for the UK to invoke Article 50 to get us out of the EU. Virtually anything might be better than his silly ideas, and it is all very well for him to write glibly about "inconvenience" but is that really his adult assessment of the consequences of structured breaches of international law?
Has it not occurred to this man that there is actually a procedure by which we can take back our independence, one which requires nothing more that a notification to the European Council to trigger? Is it not far better to leave using the proper procedure, if we donât like the rules, rather than than stay in and break them? Yet, in his 105-page publication, there is not a single mention of this option.
However, this is the London metro-élite speaking, and us provincial oiks are not permitted to comment on the wisdom of our betters, no matter how facile their pronouncements. Green must be flattered as a brilliant commentator: his words should be treasured and his book kept by your bed. After all, you never know when you may be called short in the middle of the night.
FORUM THREAD
