Polish President Lech Kaczynski at noon on Saturday (10 October) signed the Lisbon Treaty at a ceremony in Warsaw.

After making the EU wait for 557 days since the Polish parliament passed the treaty and in full view of foreign VIPs and TV cameras, Mr Kaczynski’s first pen failed to write, forcing him to ask for a new one.

60 Polish MPs have signed a petition to send the treaty to the Polish Constitutional Tribunal to see if it is compatible with national law.

The Czech president Vaclav Klaus voiced anger that Sweden’s Mr Reinfeldt forced him to unveil his Lisbon challenge earlier than he wanted, by revealing the contents of their phone conversation on Thursday to journalists.

from EUobserver

date: 27.09.2009

We vote NO!

The Lisbon Treaty is an attempt to establish a European superstate without asking Europeans for their permission. The approval of the Treaty of Lisbon will mean the transfer of the remainder of the decision-making power of European capitals to Brussels, where far away from us all a bureaucratic machine will decide our fates. The approval of the Treaty of Lisbon will mean a change for the worse, which will affect all of us. The Treaty of Lisbon, previously known as the European Constitution, was already voted on in France and the Netherlands, where the public voted a resounding NO. Then, the content of this document was apparently altered, but by less than a percent while, first and foremost, its name was altered to shove it down the throats of European nations. Only the fully democratic society of Ireland was given the opportunity to vote on the Treaty. The Irish also gave it a clear NO, but the European elite disregarded the vote and opted to bomb the Irish with propaganda, and to force them to re-vote on this defective document, a clear violation of all accepted democratic procedures and principles. This document was already rejected three times in separate democratic votes and, despite this, it is being forced upon Ireland, using economic blackmail, various forms of coercion and propaganda.

The European Union spends over 2 billion Euros annually on Propaganda. One shouldn’t then be surprised at the massive pro-EU advertising campaigns, which remain unanswered and without rebuttal by society.

Free people and free nations cannot accede to such undemocratic coercion.

We, Polish bloggers who acutely follow European politics, have decided to join our fellow Irish bloggers to appeal to the Irish public to vote against the Treaty of Lisbon. A NO vote is not only a vote against the numerous pitfalls of the Treaty, but is also a vote against the methods used to bring it to life.

We thus appeal to the Irish to once again vote NO. Vote NO in the referendum. Vote NO for your own sake, vote NO for ours!

Henrik Brors: Sweden among losers as new EP emerges

Henrik Bors, writing in Swedish newspaper DN, says that Sweden, along with Denmark and Finland emerged as the greatest losers as the new European Parliament power structures became clear. Swedish MEPs were unable to land any of the more important chairmanships in the new parliament as they all went to larger countries.

Surprise, surprise… the big ‘uns - Italy, Germany, France, Great Britain and Poland took all the spoils.

addition (on July 28th)

The French Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has hailed France’s presence on European Parliament committees, saying “With 4 committee and sub-committee chairs, France has only one chair less than Italy, is equal to Germany and is ahead of the UK and Spain.” He added that France “is one of the leading European countries in terms of the number of vice presidents.”

sources: - European Voice - French Government, July 20th

Germany’s constitutional court is preparing for an unusually long hearing on the EU’s Lisbon treaty in a process that will help determine the fate of the document across the European Union.

Over two days next month (10-11 February) the court’s judges will discuss whether the treaty breaches Germany’s constitution.

The time the court has allotted for the debate is exceptionally long. According to Focus magazine, it only happens once or twice in a decade that the court gives more than one day for a hearing.

How come all media is repeating that “Ireland and Czech Republic are the only EU member states that have not yet ratified”? And also don’t forget Austria with the same legal story as Germany and Poland where their President is wise enough to wait.

More on euobserver.com.

31.12.2008 @ 10:00 CET, euobserver.com

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Tuesday ruled out holding a referendum on joining the euro, Dziennik reports. “There will be no referendum. It’s out of the question,” he said, adding that neither he nor the opposition could envisage a meaningful question to ask Polish people.

from eurotopics.net:

Dziennik - Poland | Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Surprising consensus on euro referendum

The daily Dziennik expresses surprise at the consensus between the Polish government and the opposition on the question of holding a referendum on the introduction of the euro. “At last the [ruling] Civic Platform (PO) and the oppositional PiS have found some common ground. … It is highly likely that the PO and PiS will be able to agree on a date too. One possibility would be June 7, when the Euro-elections take place. Naturally the whole issue is still uncertain. A lot can change between now and then. … The PiS supports the idea of a referendum, but it will be a pretty risky business for the party. The party of [former head of government Jaroslaw] Kaczynski has to be a little for and a little against it because its voters are not a homogenous group. … The unambiguous views of the PO on this issue are a source of comfort for that party. But according to the most recent surveys the crisis has scared the Poles and it is possible that they could vote against the introduction of the euro.”

This is the list of the remaining EU member-states who still haven’t ratified the renamed EU constitution and in this new series of articles we’ll report on activities within those countries that will eventually lead to a final NO towards the already limping “Lisbon Treaty”.

So to remind ourselves about Poland and Germany you need to look no further but to some of our recent articles.

Regarding situation in Czech Republic perhaps it’s best if you read ERC2’s site.

Remaining Ireland and Sweden bring us following news:

Ireland - Lisbon will not pass in time for EU elections - MUST READ ARTICLE, including quotes like:
British MEP Andrew Duff asked Mr Martin if he would commit the Government to cleaning up the Irish laws on financing of referendum campaigns and the issue of equal broadcasting time for both sides in a campaign. “Several bizarre judgements of the Supreme Court have put charlatans upon the same basis of parliamentarians,” said Mr Duff, who also asked Mr Martin to clarify whether a second referendum was planned.

Sweden - The Green Party (member of TEAM) has decided after a long and hard discussion on a 56% majority (barely) vote to soften it’s stance against the Swedish EU membership.

But for all those Swedish friends and Friends of Sweden who know that in good one month time Sweden will be in position to defend European democracy there is no time like present to be active, here is a press statement from Nej till EU.

Polish senator Krzysztof Zaremba has said Poland should not ratify the Lisbon treaty if Brussels forces it to close down shipyards, amid allegations of anti-Polish French and German lobbying.

“If lobbying stands behind the decision of the commissioner, to bankrupt the shipyards, then we should hold off on the ratification process,” the senator told Polish newspaper Dziennik on Wednesday (1st October). “They treat us like dirt. It’s unacceptable. If this is the case, let Europe wait for its treaty.”

Mr Zaremba - from Poland’s ruling and pro-European Civic Platform party - said he would present his proposals at the next meeting of the senate’s foreign affairs committee.

more at the eubserver.com

How come the ratification of the Renamed EU Constitution is revolving around shipyards? Until now we were under PR impression that the main goal was to enhance democracy…

Below are some of the videos posted to Youtube from countries across Europe thanking the Irish people for voting no to the Lisbon Treaty:

Netherland:

Great Britain:

Germany:

Poland:

Greece:

Subtitle: Poles blew it

Based on today’s decision in the Polish Seym one can paraphrase: “You can’t ratify the Renamed EU Constitution and keep your own Constitution legally above it.” This simply won’t work but only time will tell. Well not just time - in near future top lawyers will have to explain clearly to Poles, to Germans (when they decide to repeat their own legal case) and finally to all other Europeans the true legal nature of the “Mother of all EU Treaties”.

Not quite the EU-Renamed Constitution news but it has to do with referendum legislation and procedures regarding calls for a referendum in Europe.

Recent news from Poland and Ireland suggest that instead on focusing primarily on basic question of a loss of member state’s sovereignty as such public debate tends to bend towards rather unexpected issues such as abortion in Ireland or “gay-marriages” in Poland.