The Treaty of Lisbon

Tomorrow voters in Ireland will have their say on the EU’s Lisbon Treaty. Ireland is the only European Union member state to have a public vote on the matter, yet a ‘no’ from Ireland would bring a definitive end to the years of negotiation. This is what came out of the failure of the constitution. We have no ‘plan B’ this time.

If the Irish public give the Treaty of Lisbon their consent, the result will be a slightly more democratic and transparent Europe with a strengthened role for the European Parliament and a greater involvement of member state parliaments. The European Parliament, directly elected by EU citizens, will be given important new powers over EU legislation, the EU budget and international agreements. In addition, the Citizens Initiative will allow one million citizens from a number of member states to call on the Commission to bring forward new policy proposals. These measures should make the European Union more accessible to the people it serves. But it does not go far enough.

This is not the kind of Europe we in Plaid Cymru are working towards. This is not a “Europe of the Peoples” where all the real nations and regions are represented. But it is better than what we have now.

Portugal, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria and Malta have already ratified the treaty.

Unfortunately, the British government refused to give us the right to have an open debate and vote on the matter in a referendum.

So all eyes are on Ireland this week, as they have the final say on the future of Europe.

Wales disadvantaged yet again!

Today the official proclamation of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights took place in Strasbourg, and the UK Government insisted on opting out of the provisions of the Charter.

The opt out puts Wales at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the European Union and proves the need for Wales to have its own voice in Europe. The UK is opting out from the Charter whilst the Polish government has indicated that it intends to drop its opt out, leaving the UK as the only member state not to sign up.

Nothing highlights our disadvantage in Europe more than watching everyone except Britain and possibly Poland sign up to the Charter of Fundamental Rights. We have called for many years for a written charter of rights. Now the EU has it but we in Wales don’t. Our human and social rights are less protected.

This charter is an instrument for political action on social rights, the environment, workers rights, equality of men and women, rights for children and the elderly. Members of parliament stood and cheered as the charter was signed. Those of us who are denied the protection of the charter could only stand on the sidelines.

The lesson for today is that Wales can not afford to be on the sidelines and needs to have its own voice in Europe.

The European Charter of Fundamental Rights was signed at a special proclamation ceremony in Strasbourg by Hans-Gert Pöttering, European Parliament President, José Manuel Barroso, Commission President, and José Sócrates, Portuguese Prime Minister and President-in-office of the EU Council.

The event was designed to publicise the Charter and give a legal basis article which refers to the Charter in the EU Reform Treaty (the Lisbon Treaty). The United Kingdom has an opt out from this part of Treaty and the UK Prime Minister will not be present in Lisbon for the joint signing ceremony which takes place tomorrow.

European Reform Treaty

Last Friday’s agreement by the head of member states on a ‘European Reform Treaty’ (don’t mention the word Constitution whatever you do) doesn’t seem to have satisfied anyone.

We’ve leaped backwards from the Constitutional Convention which was meant to represent everyone, meet in public and produce a document that was written in clear plain language that everyone could read back to closed door negotiations by government leaders that we don’t get a say on. The result is a mishmash that I’ve heard MEPs in Strasbourg this week say would take a team of constitutional lawyers to read let alone understand. It isn’t even a single document, just a list of amendments, annexes, protocols and declarations.

The only thing we know for sure is what’s not in it, and that’s the charter of fundamental rights that Gordon Brown has bargained away on our behalf. This opt out from the document of basic human and social rights was one of the key ‘red lines’ that meant we won’t be getting a referendum on the treaty in the UK. So in one sharp move he’s done away with our rights and our say!