Is the European Union Lisbon Treaty being used to destroy the national sovereignty of European

nations?
In 2009, Irish voters voted to ratify the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, leaving just Czechoslovakia’s and Poland’s
governments to ratify the treaty. After the Irish vote, the Polish government pledged to sign the treaty and
Czech President Vaclav Klaus signaled that he would pass the treaty once the Czech Constitutional Court
had agreed.
The Lisbon Treaty calls for European nations to subsume their national sovereignty and control under
European Union control. Historically, the European Union in structure has been a European nation
member organization which countries joined as sovereign nation states. However, the terms of the Lisbon
Treaty call for decreased control, power and rights as sovereign and independent nations.
As an organization, the European Union was structured with a rotating leadership fulfilled by the heads of
the member nation leaders, in a time limited system. The European Union legislature was comprised of
national representatives of each European Union member nation. Under the Lisbon Treaty, there will be
only one fixed president of the European Union who represents not their individual nation, but “all of
Europe” as a body. Instead of national legislative representatives in the European Union legislature, the
representatives will be representing regions within the European member nations instead of the nations
themselves, thus serving to completely disenfranchise the nations themselves in European Union
decisionmaking. The Lisbon Treaty also calls for a newly created position of High Representative, a
position that will be one fulfilling the duties of a “foreign minister” for the European Union and thus
supplanting the foreign minister functions of the individual European nations who comprise the European
Union.
The Irish vote also calls into question the legitimacy of the European Union Lisbon Treaty vote and the
legitimacy of the European Union and it’s electoral process altogether. The citizens of Ireland had
originally voted on the treaty in 2008 and by a national vote of 53.4% had voted against the adoption of
the Lisbon Treaty. The initial Irish vote was illegitimately disregarded as if it hadn’t occurred and the Irish
citizens forced to vote again in an election that they had already voted on and voted against.
Ireland was not the only nation’s citizens who voted against increasing the power and control of the
European Union at the expense of the national sovereignty of their individual European member nations.
In 2005, an EU constitution vote failed after both French and Dutch voters rejected it. The European
Union illegitimately disregarded the wishes of the French and Dutch voters, as did their elected politicians,
when the French and Dutch government officials voted for the passage of the Lisbon Treaty which is a
mirror image of the EU constitution vote that the citizens of France and the Netherlands had already voted
against.
As well, economic coercion, bullying and threats have been used to pressure nations to vote for the
Lisbon Treaty. The recent economic downturn and proposed European Union economic aid swayed the
Irish voters into voting for the treaty. At stake was a planned European Central Bank bailout of Irish
banks, with an infusion of euro 54 billion ($80 billion) to bolster Ireland’s overstretched banks. Since the
first vote, Irish unemployment has doubled and the national debt has soared.
One prominent opponent, Irish businessman Declan Ganley said most voters still opposed the EU’s
lack of democratic accountability and resented being forced to vote twice, but said that voters didn’t feel
that they could risk losing the economic support being offered by the European Union.
Ireland is not the only nation being economically coerced to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. It was reported
earlier this month that if the Irish ratified the Lisbon Treaty, Czech President Klaus was expected to agree
quickly, possibly after receiving a sweetener from Germany according to diplomatic sources.
The question is, why and by what right would the German government be giving an “economic
sweetener” to Czechoslovakia for the Czech government’s signing of the Lisbon Treaty?
As well the German government is using the combined national monies of the European Union and
European Central Bank as a means of forcing nations to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. As reported in the
German publication Handelsblatt, regarding the Polish government’s possible opposition to the Lisbon
Treaty, “It would be good for Merkel to remind Germany’s difficult partner east of the Oder River that
important EU budget negotiations will begin in 2008. If the Poles continue to blockade any agreement (on
the constitution) they will soon pay a high price for it.”
It also appears that the German government is even against other countries having national
referendums to put the enactment of the Lisbon Treaty to a vote before their citizens. In a report earlier
this month, it was reported that German Chancellor Merkel was furious with British Tory Party leader
David Cameron who had angered German politicians when he stated that he was in favor of a British
national referendum on the adoption of the EU Lisbon Treaty. The report noted that the Lisbon Treaty was
masterminded in Berlin.
The government of Germany and the chancellor of Germany first had no right to “mastermind” the
Lisbon Treaty without the representation of other countries, nor does it have the right to try and pressure
other country’s governments to not hold a democratic vote on the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty.
These acts call into question the intentions of the German government in relation to the other nations of
Europe and their use of the European Union with legislation and acts that serve to strip other European
nations of their sovereign powers, rights and control and what their aims are in these actions.
Many European parliament members have also stated that they believe the Lisbon Treaty and the
European Union are being used to take over national sovereignty. In fact the Lisbon Treaty in all
particulars treats the individual nations of Europe as if they are secondary to the European Union itself,
with the European Union taking on many of the characteristics of nationhood, thus destroying the rights,
powers, functions and privileges of nations to control their own nations.
As Nigel Farage, a European Parliament member from Britain notes, “the Lisbon Treaty is the same as
the EU constitution. It is virtually identical in every regard. Because it gives itself, this European
Parliament, a full legal personality. But worse still it gives itself the ability to amend itself in the future
without having to refer to more intergovernmental conferences. It gives the EU the ability to legislate over
literally every aspect of our lives.”
The European Union, in a broad range of fields, from security to law to policing to border control is
deliberately usurping the control, sovereignty and functions of the nations and national governments of
Europe.
In terms of voting, the Lisbon Treaty also calls for changes that serve to create a Europe, where the
vote is not based strictly on and per the basis of nations as nations but also partially giving weight to
nations in voting based on their populations, thus serving to massively advantage nations that have large
populations, in particular Germany which has the largest population in Europe and disadvantage nations
that have smaller populations. This change serves to assure that all the nations in Europe do not have
equal rights, or powers over European Union actions in regard to the vote and disregards the identity of
the European Union as a multinational organization in which all member nations as sovereign nations
have equal weight within the EU.
At the same time, while most of the EU member nations are experiencing a debt crisis and calls to cut
their national budgets, the European Union increased the percentage the European Union nations must
pay to the European Union six percent. Disturbingly, there are also calls to force nations through a
sanctions process to pay their European Union dues and at the same time they are having to make
drastic cuts for basic government services in their own national budgets.
Germany is also pushing for other European Union nations to have sanctions enacted against them if
they do not pay the six percent of their national budgets to the EU at the same time Germany is
pressuring other nations, as a result of their debt to cut their national budgets and essential national
governmental services.
 German Chancellor Angela Merkel has proposed automatic sanctions against nations that do not pay
the increased six percent of their national budget to the EU. When British Prime Minister David Cameron
protested that Britain and other EU member countries can’t afford a 6% increase in the EU budget at the
same time they had to cut their national budgets due to massive debt, German European Parliament
member Martin Schulz responded that the European budget did not compare to national budget. And
that the European Union budget had no taxes and couldn’t accumulate debt. He said, “There is a big
difference between the European budget and the British budget. The British budget must be reduced
because it has enormous debt. Europe has not debt.”
Of course, Parliament Member Schulz is being disengenous because Europe DOES have debt, it has
enormous debt as European countries. At the same time Schulz didn’t acknowledge that part of what is
causing the budget debt of the European nations is the transferral of a portion of their budget monies to
the European Union, which instead of remaining the same has risen 6%, thus creating an even larger
budget deficit for the individual nations of Europe. This serves to weaken individual nations
economically and strengthen the European Union at the expense of the individual nations.
At the same time that German government officials are pushing for sanctions against EU nations that
do not pay European Union dues, Germany has been pushing for cuts in essential national services in
other European nations due to their debt loads. As well, recently Germany, along with France, has been
pushing for greater economic coordination with all the countries in the Eurozone as well as greater
social program coordination. At an EU summit in Brussels on Friday, February 4, 2001, Germany and
France set forth a proposal which would raise the retirement age for all nations, set wage limits based
on inflation and set corporate tax rates as well as other economic and social actions within nations. The
proposals were met by protests by the other European zone members and citizens in those countries as
well.
The protests of the citizens of Europe in regard to these changes that are serving to destroy national
government control of their nations and cede it to the European Union matches the actions of the
European citizens who in every case have shown that they do not want the Lisbon Treaty and do not
want national rights, power, control and sovereignty to be further ceded to the European Union. In the
case of France, the Netherlands and Ireland, their national governments and the European Union itself
as a body have disregarded the votes and wishes of the citizens of these nations, serving to make the
adoption of the Lisbon Treaty by the existing European Union government both an illegitimate and
criminal act on the part of both the European Union itself and the governments of those nations whose
citizens have voted against it. As well, other nations have flouted their own national laws and
constitutions by not holding national votes on the Lisbon Treaty. As Jens Peter Bonde, a Danish
European Union Parliament member stated, when the Danish parliament refused a referendum on the
treaty, which he claimed they had not read, they breached the Danish constitution.
Before the Lisbon Treaty vote, a number of European Union members protested the lack of a public
vote referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in all the nations in the European Union. Eighty European
Parliament members held a public demonstration, where they held up signs in the parliament calling for
referendums.
It has been noted by a number of EU parliament members the criminality and illegitimacy of
disregarding the public referendums that have taken place in France, the Netherlands and Ireland, both
in their own nations and in the European Union itself, which should have legally meant that the Lisbon
Treaty would not be adopted.
British EU parliament member Nigel Farage said before the vote to approve the Lisbon Treaty, “what
the European Union is engaged in here today with this debate and subsequent vote, is nothing less than
a massive exercise in deceit. A pack of lies are being told, and they are being told because you do not
want the peoples of Europe to have the referendum you promised them. You are too chicken to have a
referendum. You don’t want to hear the voice of the people. “
British EU Parliament member Daniel Hannan, remarked in comments in the European Parliament,
“Could it be that the reason you’ve acted in this arbitrary fashion tearing up the rule of law is because
you are taking out on us the surrogate contempt you feel for the national electorate who keep voting no
on the Lisbon Treaty whenever they’re given the opportunity? If I’m wrong, prove me wrong by holding
a referendum you used to support when you thought you could win them. Put the Treaty of Lisbon to
the people. An absolute majority is not the same as the rule of law. I accept that there is a minority in
this house in favor of a referendum , there is a minority in this house against the ratification of the
Lisbon Treaty but this house must none the less, follow it’s own rule books.”
Hannan also commented on the autocratic, despotic and non democratic means in which these
measures were being taken. In commenting on the EU parliament member vote to ratify the Lisbon
Treaty when it had been voted down by the people of France, the Netherlands and Ireland, he stated,
“And by popular acclamation to discard the rules under which we operate is indeed an act of arbitrary
and despotic rule.”
EU parliament member Farage said in a speech before the body, “You don’t want to hear the voice of
the people and now you resort to totalitarian regimes to get this treaty through.”
EU parliament member Bonde said in regards to the Lisbon Treaty that all negotiations had been kept
absolutely secret from many members of the parliament. Then he said, “First they undo two
referendums that rejected the constitution. Then they acted in secret and kept the content under a new
name. Those laws will be adopted by civil servants in secret. The democratic deficit will grow.”
The actions now occurring in the European Union as a body is non democratic and illegal, serving to
disenfranchise and destroy both the sovereignty and control of the national governments of Europe’s
over their nations and citizens. It has even been noted as such by many European Union parliament
members. These members, the national governments that are members of the European Union and
their citizens, need to hold the European Union and their own national governments accountable to
assure that these nations and national governments retain the power, control and autonomy that their
citizens, when given the chance to vote, have clearly indicated that they wanted to remain within the
nations and not the European Union.