More haste less sovereignty!

Speed seems to be ever more the guiding principle behind the simplified EU constitutional treaty. Why one must wonder? The EU has continued its regulatory way for months since the French and Dutch NO! The following is an extract from an article in today''s IHT linked here, with my emphasis of the word 'swiftly':

Sarkozy said Wednesday that efforts to build a consensus around a more modest constitutional treaty were "making headway."

"We need to move forward, and a simplified treaty is the way forward," he said.

The simplified treaty he outlined during his election campaign would strip out all the symbolic language from the original charter and retain only major institutional changes aimed at streamlining decision-making, chief among them a stable presidency that would replace the current rotating one; an EU foreign minister, though possibly with a less contentious title; and an extension of qualified majority voting to areas like immigration, where unanimity rules often block decisions.

Crucially, Sarkozy has pledged to ratify the new treaty in a parliamentary vote rather than by referendum.

Sarkozy's spokesman, David Martinon, said: "A simplified treaty is the most credible working hypothesis. It's the only solution that can deal with the institutional crisis swiftly."

So far, the EU remains split on the matter. France's idea of a bare-bones document is shared by the Netherlands, which also rejected the constitution in a referendum two years ago. The need for speed is highly suspect and indicates a drive to complete the sovereignty sell-out while the departing Blair can shoulder any subsequent blame without crippling future Labour Party electability. The response to the question about Gordon Brown attending the Berlin meeting quoted in the post below, adds support to that theory.