The European Constitution Sneaks in by the Back Door
"So you thought the EU constitution was dead? Dream on. In fact, the past few months have seen a
dramatic diminishing of British sovereignty as Brussels...grabs more power," said veteran Daily Mail
columnist Christopher Booker recently. So is the European Union really acting in Britain’s and the
world’s best interests?
by John Ross Schroeder
Longtime British feature writer Simon Jenkins expressed the United Kingdom's growing frustration
with the EU. He wrote:
"The European Union is ghastly. It poisons all it touches. Europe sabotaged Margaret Thatcher's last
government. Europe mugged [former Prime Minister] John Major to death. Now Europe has driven Tony Blair
[to act unwisely] in Europe. The protectionist cartel is internally corrupt and externally a menace to
global trade and peace. Britain's leaders are humiliated whenever they try to reform it"
( The Sunday Times, emphasis added throughout). That's calling a spade a spade.
The latest British humiliation consists, over a period of seven years, of losing £7 billion
(approximately $12 billion) of the rebate that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had so
skillfully negotiated with the EU.
Newspapers (right and left) agreed that the United Kingdom got almost nothing in return for this
controversial, "last-minute" concession. At the end of the day, France gave no real ground on the
enormous agricultural subsidy payments French farmers regularly receive from the EU.
An unexpected development
No EU budget deal was expected at the end of Britain's six-month's presidency of the European Union.
It appeared effectively blocked. But due to the last-minute U.K. rebate "surrender" (apparently without
the knowledge of British Chancellor Gordon Brown, who was in Washington, D.C., at the time), a surprise
agreement was produced.
However, the biggest surprise of the recent summit among all the leaders of EU member nations was
Angela Merkel, the new German chancellor. Some EU politicians hailed her as "Europe's new power broker"
as she got the lion's share of the credit for breaking the budget deadlock.
Angela Merkel's first month at the seat of German power has generally been judged a very good one in
both foreign and domestic affairs. The German upper house of parliament just approved a number of tax
reforms that will help reduce the budget deficit.
