Alerting the USA to the suppression of Freedom in the EU

The following press release, has been put out by the Campaign for an Independent Britain and already been re-issued by one organisation in the United States. The entire world should react with horror to the proposed suspension of democracy across almost the entire European Continent and act whenever they are able and in every international forum to bring home to the reckless heads of governments of Europe's former nation states that the proposed abandonment of democracy on such a scale will not be tolerated by the world's surviving democracies!

Germany's Reform Treaty: A Merkel Mandate for a Euro-state

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Press Statement from THE CAMPAIGN for an INDEPENDENT BRITAIN, October 23, 2007

Since the Treaty of Rome and European Communities Act 1972, Britain has ceased to be a legally independent nation. Majority voting in the EU Council of Ministers automatically applies to Crown, courts, Parliament and people "without further enactment" (see Clause 2 – 1 ECA 1972).

Successive treaties have extended the powers of the original Treaty. Now a larger overall treaty the "Reform Treaty" - has been proposed under the German Presidency, likely to be signed in a final version before the end of this year under the Portuguese Presidency.

On June 7, 2007, Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, appeared before the House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee to be questioned about the Council of EU Ministers’ meeting planned for June 21/22. The ESC meeting had been specifically planned to ascertain the proposals by the German Presidency for the forthcoming conference so that our government and people would have some knowledge of the new treaty. They were stunned to hear that no draft proposals for the new treaty had been received from the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

On the evening of June 19, the British Representative in Brussels was handed the draft proposal from the German Presidency (Document 11177/07) for the European Council to issue a "mandate" or instruction for the imminent Intergovernmental Conference of the representatives of EU member states as to how they should go about establishing a "Reform Treaty". This document, effectively a German diktat, of 31 pages and two small print detailed annexes, was accepted en bloc at the EU Council meeting attended by Tony Blair on June 21/22 without any record of debate.

This then became what is now called the "mandate" from the Council to the Intergovernmental Conference for its detailed work of putting together a treaty incorporating what is already in force together with many controversial additions. Subsequent questions have revealed that the government had not received any prior draft of the proposals from the Germans before June 19.

Minutes of meetings by Select Committees of the House of Commons reveal that the terms of this Reform Treaty agreed on June 21/22, had not only been drafted in Brussels under the then President Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, assisted by officials of the European Commission, but were accepted en bloc by heads of EU governments, less than two days after their publication. This left no time for national governments to consult their colleagues and still less their departments of State since the proposals were only given to them at most two days prior to the meeting. It would appear that this text was produced by officials of the German foreign office assisted by those from the European Parliament and EU Commission.

On Monday June 25, Tony Blair gave a verbal report to Parliament neglecting to mention that a copy of the so-called "mandate" had been lodged in Parliament’s Vote Office and available to MPs from the morning of June 25, so most MPs and all the public were entirely ignorant of the commitment by the British government, and governments of all EU member states. It had become accepted as a mandate or instruction from the European Council. The Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) itself is the body which, in the rules and organisation of the EU, is responsible for its own agenda. The European Council has no formal powers to instruct it.

Very soon afterwards Tony Blair tendered his resignation to the Queen and a couple of days later both he and Margaret Beckett surrendered their seals of office and responsibility and were no longer directly accountable to Parliament and people for one of the biggest surrenders in British history. Tony Blair left office to the ringing applause of MPs whom he had recently agreed to disempower permanently from the control of many areas of this nation’s life.

When questioned last week during a meeting of the European Scrutiny Committee, Minister for Europe, Jim Murphy, confirmed that the mandate is complete, closed and will not be reopened. The obligations entered into cannot be changed. The Minister stated that the process now is for the Reform Treaty to be translated into legal language into the principal and many other languages of member states, covering some 300 articles and declarations.

In spite of this major and largely unknown departure from established practice, Angela Merkel got her way. The procedures of proposals into the new treaty illustrate central power which could hardly be seen as compatible with any democratic principle. Objections from the Czech Republic and Poland were ruthlessly rejected. Without support from one large member country, they were powerless to resist. Nations of Europe and beyond opposed the building of a Euro-state by force of arms between 1939 and 1945. The democratic voices of the peoples of Europe must now be heard and acted upon by all peaceful means to reject this EU Constitution/Reform Treaty.

The European Scrutiny Committee of the House of Commons published a report on October 9, 2007 (Ref HC 1014). This concluded that the provisions of the proposed "Reform Treaty" were, for all practical purposes, the same as the EU Constitution, rejected by the French and Dutch peoples and upon which almost all sitting MPs had, in their election manifestos, promised their electors a referendum.

Statement issued on behalf of the Campaign for an Independent Britain (CIB), the cross-party coalition defending British sovereignty and freedom, by Dr Bob Spink MP, Chairman; George West, Edward Spalton and Nigel Spearing, for the CIB National Committee.