In comments that seemed a mixture of calls for unity and veiled threats, European President Herman Van Rompuy warned against Euroskepticism, the public criticism of the European Union that is growing across its member nations.
The over-arching supranational government in the EU has been claiming growing power in recent years, fueling increasing opposition to continued membership across a number of nations around the union. The crisis in the Euro currency earlier this year also made the case against the union more popular, particularly among nations which abandoned their own comparatively stable currencies in favor of the Euro.
The Lisbon Treaty includes provisions for member nations seeking the secede from the Union, but requires them to negotiate the terms of such a departure with the EU government. It seems that as Euroskepticism grows this clause will be tested sooner or later, but Van Rompuy’s comments suggest it will be far from an amicable departure and will be spun, at best, as a sign of military hostility and dangerous nationalism.
Ah, how desperately the Israel Lobby dreams of the EU falling apart! There is no sign whatsoever of any Member State thinking of leaving. Indeed, Wall St's attack on the euro actually strengthened the EU precisely because it demonstrated to people that even the biggest Member States would be at the mercy of the American jackboot if they left. All the protests that that attack provoked have called for a stronger EU, not a weaker one and the only people spinning this any other way are Americans!
What a nut. So opposing the EUSSR will lead to war? I guess Switzerland and Sweden are going to go on the warpath.
Sweden is in EU. Switzerland & Norway are not. Even after multiple referenda which rejected the union!
Bomb them!! Bomb them!! Bomb them!! To all of you "eurosceptic" REMEMBER DRESDEN!!! We can do it again!!
None of this is the point. EU was set up by the financial interest, and its mandarins are making FAR more money then the Presidents and the Prime Ministers of each country that presumably got them there. None of them is elected, and the politics of their appointments is not transparent. EU countries have been hammered by the Wall Street, and the most prosperous countries in EU had to go deeply in debt to rescue EU. This is what the euroscepticism is all about — who runs it and in whose interests. This is a HEALTHY debate that can make EU stronger. So, Mr. Rumpoy, Baroness Ashtone and Manuel Barozo, and top 28 euro mandarins are each making between 57,000 – 103,000 euros MORE then the heads of states or prime ministers of their countries. This is the kingdom of Fat Cats. Now, fasten your seat belts. These three fat cats are suppored by a division of 1,030 fat kittens, EACH making more then the UK Prime Minister. Actually, about 90% of all bureaucrats from UK working for EU are making more then UK Prime Minister.
Then there is European Commission. There you will find approximately 34,000 obscenely rich bureaucrats, and the General Secretary of EU Parliament makes 216,000 euros. Special privileges and spending accounts are not scrutinized either. He has 6,166 employees. These fat kittens work hard to support 736 representatives to EU Parliament. That is, eight of them serve one representative, all at the expense of taxpayer. If you still do not understand the cause of euroscepticism, try this. Citizens of EU do not really understand who are behind the power of EU bureaucracy, and whose interests they represent. This is what the ritual hissing at Germany was all about. The notion that a mere state, even if it is Germany that generally pays the bills, can have the nerve to ask for some accountability — is too much for this elite.
Now that is a clueless post. The EU has always been seen as a mechanism to avoid wars – amongst other things, and there is an acute awareness in Europe of the permanent dangers of nationalism. Van Rompuy is concerned about stability.You can disagree by pointing out valid reasons for separating off, but concluding that a country separating off will be interpreted as military hostility is , well, off the wall.