European Constitution / Lisbon Treaty: the leader of Anti-EU-Movement

Juergenhaag

The Truth about the European Constitution / Lisbon Treaty:
For everyone who's seriously interested in this I can only recommend to go to YouTube and listen to the lecture of Prof. Dr. Schachtschneider on the European Constitution.
Schachtschneider is Professor for Law in Germany. He is one of the leading representatives of the Anti-EU-Movement in Central Europe and he has a profound knowledge of the EU-Constitution. His speeches are excellent from a legal point of view.
It is an alternate version with English subtitles:
Schachtschneider #1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_kB6ejDlq8
Schachtschneider #2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLqkg3x59Yo
Schachtschneider #3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNiEx0HzdHQ
Schachtschneider #4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTL_8q1YS7o
Schachtschneider #5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzBqiINeL8M
Schachtschneider #6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4kdVhO81vk
Schachtschneider #7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfWoM_aibts
Schachtschneider #8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnA8cnD-p_Y
Schachtschneider #9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L78Km9BGSYo
Schachtschneider #10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emnz9-dkIDQ
Prof. Dr. Schachtschneider is a retired lecturer (eremitus) on state law and state theory and has become somewhat famous for challenging (successfully) the various attempts (Maastricht, EU constitution, Lisbon treaty) to promote a European Constitution on the grounds of those attempts not being compliant with the German Grundgesetz (Constitution). Schachtschneider is well renowned even amongst his critics.
In a nutshell (lengthy nutshell I admit):
As the German Grundgesetz was 'imposed' on Germany after WW2 in order to ensure Germany being a very, very democratic state which will never allow a despotic takeover and something like a holocaust to happen again this German Grundgesetz is deemed one of the most advanced constitutions of the western world - very much in the spirit of the great liberal state theorists emerging after the French revolution.
Schachtschneider successfully challenged the European constitution as being not compliant with the Grundgesetz because of serious democratic deficiencies before the Bundesverfasssungsgericht (Supreme Constitutional Court, the 'guardians' of the Grundgesetz if you like).
As a result of this (in spite of the lies in the media) the European Constitution was not only voted down in France and in the Netherlands but also was never ratified in Germany either. The Bundesverfassungsgericht simply forbid the German president to sign the bill that was passed by both parliaments. A similar motion by Schachtschneider (with the same expected outcome) was made against the Lisbon treaty. Strangely enough this is always being omitted in the media, they only say that the parliaments passed these treaties which sounds to the uninformed as if the were ratified which of course they were not.
Anyway here are the democratic deficiencies of the constitution/Lisbon treaty (which is the same despite what anyone is trying to tell you).
1) No sufficient separation of the executive, legislative and judiciary powers. Overpowering executive, the 'parliament' has no real control over the legislation and cannot submit legislation proposals itself even.
2) No independent judiciary. The judiciary is appointed by the governments.
3) No legitimation of Europe as a replacement for the nation states as no one but the people themselves can surrender their national sovereignty to join a new nation/union. A decision on behalf of the people (by the elected representatives) is insufficient. The attempt is made to bypass the people but for a few inconvenient exceptions (Ireland).
4) No equal representation of every citizens vote in this new Union. E.g. the vote of a person in Malta/Luxembourg weighs 20 times more than the vote of a person in the UK.
5) Establishment of neo-liberal, completely deregulated finance & market rules (super-capitalism) as an unchangeable political dogma in the European Constitution. The very cornerstone of democracy is that changes reflecting the ideas of the current political powers must be allowed.
There are a good few other things and Schachtschneider will explain these carefully, but I think these are the main issues. Also he explains who is benefiting from the new order that is attempted to be established by the European Constitution and how the whole process works.

evercloserunion

I haven't seen the professor's lectures but I hope for his sake you're misrepresenting him because these arguments are stupid.

1) No sufficient separation of the executive, legislative and judiciary powers. Overpowering executive, the 'parliament' has no real control over the legislation and cannot submit legislation proposals itself even.

The Lisbon Treaty increases the power of the Parliament.

2) No independent judiciary. The judiciary is appointed by the governments.

Well it has to be appointed somehow. This way is the best as it keeps the judiciary as independent as possible from any of the other EU institutions and increases the powers of national governments.

3) No legitimation of Europe as a replacement for the nation states as no one but the people themselves can surrender their national sovereignty to join a new nation/union. A decision on behalf of the people (by the elected representatives) is insufficient. The attempt is made to bypass the people but for a few inconvenient exceptions (Ireland).

Europe is not a replacement for the nation state, never was.

4) No equal representation of every citizens vote in this new Union. E.g. the vote of a person in Malta/Luxembourg weighs 20 times more than the vote of a person in the UK.

This is in order to protect the interests of smaller states like Ireland. AFAIK the Lisbon Treaty reduces this and makes voting weights more proportional, but adds new protections for smaller states in the form of enhanced QMV.

5) Establishment of neo-liberal, completely deregulated finance & market rules (super-capitalism) as an unchangeable political dogma in the European Constitution. The very cornerstone of democracy is that changes reflecting the ideas of the current political powers must be allowed.

The free market has always been a major feature of the EU of course, but that does not mean that the EU is an unregulated "super-capitalism". The fact of the matter is that many regulations still exist despite almost 40 years of membership in the EU, the facts do not support your claim.