Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Just say no

Germany wants to revive the EU Constitution

The fact this was even considered has always incensed me. If I wanted to live under a fundamentally inert and insubstantial regime, I would move to France. Imagine, if you will, how long it takes to get something to and then through the European courts at the moment. Typically, it takes years. Now imagine the appelate process while various overpaid Brussels bigwigs cross swords over constitutional interpretation. The cost and the time to a decision would be astronomical.

You may argue that the US does this all the time. But the US has one advantage. The law is written in English and is interpreted by English speaking people who appreciate the nuances of our fair language. If an EU constitution were written, you might as well write it in Latin for all the use it would be to any given non-native speaking nation. Or Flemish.

It is quite simply, unworkable, unwieldy and unaffordable to the average tax payer. To even suggest its revival is moonbatism in its purest form.

Here endeth the case for the prosecution. Or should I say "Hier endeth het geval voor de vervolging"?

Don't even get me started on the EU as a principle let alone a single currency.

1 comment:

Stan said...

The chances of anything being agreed, never mind anything that would disturb anyone in Europe, is 0.0 recurring. Don't worry about it - it will never happen.

Your concerns about language seems strange. The UN managed a Constitution in 1945 using the following Article 111 :-

"The present Charter, of which the Chinese, French, Russian, English, and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall remain deposited in the archives of the Government of the United States of America. Duly certified copies thereof shall be transmitted by that Government to the Governments of the other signatory states. IN FAITH WHEREOF the representatives of the Governments of the United Nations have signed the present Charter. DONE at the city of San Francisco the twenty-sixth day of June, one thousand nine hundred and forty-five."

And as something whose has a smattering of Dutch, it's actually "geval van vervolging".

Yes, I am a geek and a pedant.