Other purposes for”Treaty change.”

The excuses for “treaty change.” A couple of weeks ago, leaders of Member States tussled over the notion of changing the Lisbon Treaty.  The “changes” center around protecting the euro-zone and calls for voting rights in the Council to be suspended for violators. France and Germany wanted a permanent bailout fund and debt restructuring and crisis resolution mechanisms. (see CEPS).We should first take a look at who proposed this, Angela Merkel, and what for, to  support troublesome euro-zone nations and create insolvency procedures, or so it’s said.  Well, we should also note that Chancellor Merkel  is known for both flippant comments and grandstanding, like stating that “multiculturalism has failed.” We should suspect that Merkel, along with Sarkozy, (both right-wing leaders) have something else in mind with regard to the Lisbon Treaty and changing it. This proposal to change ToL has been rightfully called irresponsible by Vivianne Reding and could take the Union back into “navel -gazing.” The majority of Member States and leaders were opposed to changing ToL at the bid of the larger Member States, like France and Germany. (FT- Signs of backtracking on EU treaty change).Beware of Thatcherites in European governments! We should consider this: The Lisbon Treaty is a rather social-democratic document, codifying the European social safety net and the human rights of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Social policy is a shared competence of the EU, including fighting xenophobia and social exclusion, so we look at portions of Article Five (which the UK has opt-outs):

In defining and implementing its policies and activities, the Union shall take into account requirements linked to the promotion of a high level of employment, the guarantee of adequate social protection, the fight against social exclusion, and a high level of education, training and protection of human health.’.In defining and implementing its policies and activities, the Union shall aim to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.’.

We should understand, and not forget, that Margaret Thatcher, along with American Conservatives, continue to be active in undermining the European Union and social-democratic frameworks in Europe. Merkel has been described in numerous articles (see Businessweek - The Guardian -  The Slate) as the “new Margaret Thatcher” in EUobserver, Merkel is, but isn’t Thatcher:

Both Thatcher and Merkel started out as nice, caring, smiling ladies and ended up being butchers of the welfare state. They both implemented (or are about to) major budget cuts and became responsible for rising levels of unemployment.Thatcher and Merkel both played with populist tabloid instincts – although Merkel is a latecomer in this game. Thatcher nurtured the obsessions of the tabloid newspapers by attacking weak sections of society, trade unions, homosexuals and the so-called “loony left”. It seems that Merkel takes a similar path against the welfare state, although in a milder sort of way.

With Thatcher minion leaders like Mark Rutte, Geert Wilders, Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel (as well as others in East Europe)  – we can understand that the so-called “austerity measures” may be extended to European treaties and attempts will be made by the Thatcherites to undermine the requirements of social protections in the European Union. In describing his love for his “Iron Lady,” Mark Rutte admired her economic policies. Keep in mind that Thatcher “handled the recession of the 1980s” by taking milk out of school kids’ lunches:

He lives alone, describes himself as a hard worker and has commended former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s handling of the economic recession in the early 1980s.Like Britain’s “Iron Lady”, Rutte supports big public spending cuts, and says leading the Netherlands out of Europe’s current economic downturn is his biggest political ambition.

The mass media, especially out of the UK, continue to search for “Thatcher moments” out of Europe’s right-wing leaders. Well – this Author knows just how much some of Europe’s leaders, listed above – view Thatcher as some kind of Savior to love, admire and mimic. This admiration and the continuous activism on the part of Thatcher through her minions like Sarkozy and Mark Rutte- against the well-being of working-class Europeans – must be understood as threatening to social safety of working class Europeans. The working class people of Europe should fight to maintain the Lisbon Treaty in its current form and resist tampering by Thatcherites!The threat of referendums and the loony fringe that support them. With regard to the Lisbon Treaty, any shift in sovereignty toward Brussels from national capitals could prompt referendums in some Member States, like Austria. The UK government has a “referendum lock” – where a new treaty or significant changes require the referendum. We know that the likelihood of a negative outcome would be high, as well as made into a lunatic affair, as Euroskeptic fanatics look for any means to “promote the people’s will.”Well – the “people’s will,” according to Euroskeptic fanatics, would be to return to the power games that lead to bloody wars on the Continent. Perhaps, more importantly to Islamophobe, Europeskeptic fanatics, the destruction of the European Union though referendums would also allow for the “sovereign right of European nations” to persecute Roma and Muslims without interference from European institutions. From Euroskeptic fanatics, who are often Islamophobic, we need to suspect more than just “the will of the people.” It is no wonder that the Thatcherite idiots in the UK government would like a referendum – like they got in Ireland – to slow down the European Union as a beacon for social progress, peace and human rights- and another era of European power games and bloody wars, while stuffing a few million Muslims in ovens, sounds rather fun, doesn’t it?!