"Federalists accused of 'hijacking' European Parliament opening"

free to prosper

Yesterday in Strasbourg at the opening of EU parliament there was a flag raising with EUroCorp troops, EU flag and anthem being played.

reported in daily Telegraph thus:

Federalists accused of 'hijacking' European Parliament opening

Federalists have been accused of hijacking the official opening of the new European Parliament session after soldiers raised the EU flag to the tune of Europe's official anthem Ode to Joy.

Critics accused them of using the event to uphold the flag and anthem symbols of European Union statehood that were officially dropped after French and Dutch referendum rejections threw out Europe's Constitution in 2005.

Leading the ceremony in Strasbourg, a detachment of combat troops marched to the overture of The Force of Destiny by Verdi, before raising an EU flag twice the size of the national flags around it to a military bugle call.

The troops - drawn from the Eurocorps member states of Germany, France, Spain, Belgium and Luxembourg - then stood to attention to a full orchestral and choral rendition of Ode to Joy.

Eurocorps was created in 1992 as a self-styled "force for the European Union" and is regarded as an expression of ambitions to create a Euro-army as part of a federal Europe.

Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, said: "Today is the EU's equivalent of trooping the colour. There is no pretence anymore. The EU is to be a fully militarised state."
British MEPs have been angered by the European Parliament's defiance in clinging on to EU symbols of statehood that were cut from the Lisbon Treaty after voters in France and the Netherlands rejected its predecessor, the EU Constitution, four years ago.

Earlier escapade of EUrocorp.
http://www.eurocorps.org/media_library/videos/european_day_2009/

Here are EUrocoup, as it says on their own website - A Force for the European Union and the Atlantic Alliance [ie NATO]

raising the EU flag to tune of EU anthem.

This shows :

1
EU's complete contempt for democracy - and NO vote of French and Dutch voters has been totally ignored.

2
Desire of the EU to build a military wing and armaments industry (know as EDA in Lisbon).

Do you think that this federalist EU project has very serious and sinister militaristic aspect which people should know about?

Do you think this affair should have been reported in the Irish media?
Did you see it? If not, then do you think people have a right to know about it?

P. Breathnach

What's the connection with Lisbon?

PopeBuckfastXVI

Yes unless I've been in a coma, I don't think we've ratified Lisbon yet, therefore I very much doubt it's changes have been implemented in time for yesterdays opening. Certainly not without 1.21 jigawatts of power and a Delorian.

Daftendirekt

So some people raised a flag while listening to a particularly uplifting piece of classical music, and that somehow constitutes not only preparing the member states for war, but also weakening national democracy?


Am I missing a step here or something?

free to prosper

Lisbon Treaty means another incremental step in EU militarisation.

Article 28A(7) states: "If a Member State is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other Member States shall have towards it an obligation of aid and assistance by all means in their power."

As Karen Devine shows in this Irish Times article:

Bearing this emphasis in mind, it is worth considering the following reasons why this part of the clause effectively constitutes a new EU military alliance and prejudices neutrality:

(1) Legally, the meaning of "obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their power" is sufficiently wide to include military means; the only way to exclude military means is to ensure the clause expressly stipulates this exclusion.

(2) The existence of the separate solidarity clause in Article 188R of the Lisbon Treaty indicates that Article 28A(7) collective defence clause is not merely a solidarity clause mandating a non-military response.

(3) "By all the means in their power" does not imply that member states can pick and choose what to help with. It arguably involves a greater commitment of aid for a member state subject to armed aggression than Nato's article V guarantee.

PopeBuckfastXVI

Your post title is unrelated to the events of yesterday, or the reporting thereof.

free to prosper

Event was opening of EU parliament.

EU Instututions are pushing for Yes vote to lisbon.

The Treaty of Lisbon would

militarize the EU further, requiring Member States “progressively to improve their military capabilities” (Art.42.3 TEU) and to aid and assist other Member States experiencing armed attack “by all the means in their power” (Art.42.7 TEU).

You may not like events like yesterday being brought to public notice - but it happened and it shows how the EU is moving very steadily in direction of further militarisation.

I notice you have failed to deny this fact -

Eurocorp with Flag and anthem is like porn for EUro federalists in Strasbourg. However it is a dismissal of NO vote of Dutch and French and shows how democratic votes are ignored by the EU.

free to prosper

Oh yes, the people of Holland and France voted no to the EU Constitution.

The Treaty of lisbon is the same content, but they dropped FLAG and EU Anthem.

Event shows utter contempt for democracy. Ignoring their vote.

From Pana

Check the two reports agreed by the EU Parliament on accelerating the process of the militarisation of the European Union and making the links between the EU and NATO even stronger. While they are non-binding, they show that majority of the members of the EU Parliament support the militarisation of the EU and stronger EU/NATO links. This is the same Parliament that voted not to respect the decision of the Irish people

.

oscarBravo

I've edited the thread title to reflect the actual story.

Scofflaw

oscarBravo wrote: »

I've edited the thread title to reflect the actual story.

A pity - I quite liked free's original hysterical title. For those who don't know, by the way, the European Parliament voted to adopt the flag and anthem as theirs sometime last year. The whole thing has absolutely nothing to do with Lisbon, which contains no articles on flag-raising...

cordially,
Scofflaw

K-9

free to prosper wrote: »

militarize the EU further, requiring Member States “progressively to improve their military capabilities” (Art.42.3 TEU) and to aid and assist other Member States experiencing armed attack “by all the means in their power” (Art.42.7 TEU).

Just Googled your quote above:

13. Would militarize the EU further, requiring Member States “progressively to improve their military capabilities” (Art.42.3 TEU) and to aid and assist other Member States experiencing armed attack “by all the means in their power” (Art.42.7 TEU).

Seems this same point comes up repeatedly on the Libertas blog, Indymedia and the National Platform sites, always word for word.

I don't think there is any point debating this as it doesn't matter. It will be just thrown out there again and again and again.

free to prosper

That's right scottflaw.
Lisbon has no articles on EU flag or anthem.
It's about the only difference between the content of Lisbon and the EU Constitution.

The people of Holland and France both voted to reject his EU Constitution.

Yet here we have these EU federalist fanatics prancing with soldiers around a flag pole singing an EU anthem and raising a flag.

EU institutions have contempt for national democratic votes. That has been shown clearly. At least that is clear

Daftendirekt

free to prosper wrote: »

That's right scottflaw.
Lisbon has no articles on EU flag or anthem.
It's about the only difference between the content of Lisbon and the EU Constitution.

The people of Holland and France both voted to reject his EU Constitution.

Yet here we have these EU federalist fanatics prancing with soldiers around a flag pole singing an EU anthem and raising a flag.

EU institutions have contempt for national democratic votes. That has been shown clearly. At least that is clear

Did you even read Scofflaw's post?

sceptre

Has anyone except UKIP (and obviously by extension and implication, the Telegraph) started a song or dance about this? Considering that UKIP don't even like the term "European Parliament" it hardly surprises me that they found something to whine about.

The "full orchestral and choral rendition of Ode To Joy" was sung by what appears to be a bunch of schoolkids, judging by the video of the flag raising ceremony. And the flag has been flown outside wherever the parliament is meeting since 1986 (plus there's a resolution passed 500-80ish from last October about putting it in all the rooms and using the anthem when the parliament opens)

Should it be reported here (edit, as in "should [it] have been reported in the Irish media")? Is today really that slow of a news day?

Scofflaw

free to prosper wrote: »

That's right scottflaw.
Lisbon has no articles on EU flag or anthem.
It's about the only difference between the content of Lisbon and the EU Constitution.

The people of Holland and France both voted to reject his EU Constitution.

Yet here we have these EU federalist fanatics prancing with soldiers around a flag pole singing an EU anthem and raising a flag.

EU institutions have contempt for national democratic votes. That has been shown clearly. At least that is clear

Let's take this one step at a time:

1. we vote for MEPs - directly and democratically

2. that makes MEPs our democratically elected representatives in the European Parliament

3. the MEPs in the European Parliament democratically voted to adopt the flag and anthem.

At what point, exactly, does that become undemocratic? The EU has not adopted the flag and anthem - the Parliament has. Any organisation can adopt a flag and anthem.

As to differences between Lisbon and the Constitution, if you think only the flag and anthem changed, you are under a misapprehension. Have you bothered to actually check?

regards,
Scofflaw

free to prosper

Scofflaw wrote: »

The whole thing has absolutely nothing to do with Lisbon, which contains no articles on flag-raising...

cordially,
Scofflaw

Lets take this one step at a time.

The people of France and Holland in a direct referendum on a single question voted No to the EU Constitution.

Their vote was ignored.

They had virtually exact same content in new Lisbon Treaty - except no mention of flag or anthem - but just made it near impossible to read.

This new Lisbon Treaty was rejected in direct referendum by people of Ireland

Their vote was ignored.
Now, the EU elite wish to use media power and money to overturn Irish No vote......

Keep eye open to see what happens next.

- on other point
Direct referendum of people should trump un -representative political elite every time.

EU Parliament gave two fingers to voters of Holland and France.
Just expect more.

Scofflaw

free to prosper wrote: »

Lets take this one step at a time.

The people of France and Holland in a direct referendum on a single question voted No to the EU Constitution.

Their vote was ignored.

They had virtually exact same content in new Lisbon Treaty - except no mention of flag or anthem - but just made it near impossible to read.

This new Lisbon Treaty was rejected in direct referendum by people of Ireland

Their vote was ignored.
Now, the EU elite wish to use media power and money to overturn Irish No vote......

Keep eye open to see what happens next.

- on other point
Direct referendum of people should trump un -representative political elite every time.

EU Parliament gave two fingers to voters of Holland and France.
Just expect more.

I suppose that when people's democratically elected representatives vote for something you don't like, you're entitled to not like it. Claiming they're a "political elite", on the other hand, when they stand for election, is another step down the road of making "elite" a meaningless abuse term like "fascist", since standing for election is open to anyone, and as Libertas rather convincingly demonstrated, mere financial muscle won't get you through.

cordially,
Scofflaw

View

free to prosper wrote: »

Lets take this one step at a time.

The people of France and Holland in a direct referendum on a single question voted No to the EU Constitution.

Their vote was ignored.

It was? Then when did the EU Constitution come into force?

PS Let me guess, it was only the British UKIP MEPs who were "outraged" on behalf of the French and Dutch...