Tuesday, October 16, 2007

European Treaty


The whole hoo-ha about the is it a constitution or not with the EU treaty seems a little over the top to me. Clearly most of those who are shouting against are probably against the EU full stop. I am not one of those people.

The treaty brings in more Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) for an EU of 25 states to replace the single state power of veto which applied in more areas when there were just 15. This is a sensible move because nothing would ever get done if one state could block Justice and Home Affairs (JHA). QMV is weighted to population so large nations like the UK, Germany and France have more votes than smaller ones. Obviously this means that some countries might have to accept EU legislation that they don't like. This isn't idea but it the concept that a union is based on.

However, the UK has secured the right to opt out of specific legislation so I really don't see what the problem is.

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