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Fatal distraction…An EU epic.
While Europe’s leaders humiliated themselves squabbling over money, taking the whole EU farce to unseen levels of degeneracy over Britain’s rebate.
UPDATE: On Ice
As expected, British foreign minister Jack Straw has announced that the government has postponed plans to hold a poll on the EU constitution.
Put It Out Of Its Misery!
Britain prepares to defy Axis of Losers and end constitution fantasy
British foreign minister Jack Straw is expected to announce this afternoon that the UK will not be holding a referendum on the EU constitution.
Britain was not keen to hand ammunition to France's president Jacques Chirac by openly declaring the treaty dead. Instead the government will say that it is putting on hold planned legislation which would have paved the way for a referendum next spring. This, in effect, kills the treaty, as it has to be ratified by all 25 member countries before it can pass into law. France and Holland, by voting overwhelmingly against the constitution, killed it off. Most diplomats and Eurocrats privately accept this. However, no-one in the national parliaments or in Brussels has had the nerve to declare what everyone else knows.
Denial Is A River In Brussels
In today's Times, Anthony Browne goes through the looking glass to the topsy-turvy world of the European Union headquarters, where Eurocrats have decided that the overwhelming no votes from France and the Netherlands actually signified a desire for more Europe rather than less!
Two Tribes
Much like Parisians
What do the loincloth-wearing tribesmen of French Guyana have in common with the Hèrmes-clad denizens of Paris?
This Is An Ex-Constitution
It's kicked the bucket, shuffled off the mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. That much is clear, following Holland's overwhelming rejection of the constitution in yesterday's vote. Now all we need is a politician with the cojones to issue the death certificate. For despite the treaty's obvious failure, Eurocrats from EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso down still insist that it is "stunned" or perhaps "only resting." It is only a matter of time before someone claims it is pining for the fjords.
Backwards Compatible
Kudos to the Guardian for giving a column to a voice rarely heard in the British EU debate: The fanatically anti-liberal scribblings of Serge Halimi, who believes that the problem with the EU constitution was that it was too liberal.
Art Attack
Are British artists Gilbert & George trying to add a fatwa to their list of achievements?
Update your Celebrity Death Pool bets today!
The Battle For Europe
The EU constitution may lie a-moulderin' in the grave but the constitutional debate goes marching on. Today, the Netherlands votes on the treaty: A no is expected from the Dutch, too, which should in theory finish the constitution off.
