Quote Originally Posted by Kralizec View Post
At the risk of sounding elitist: EU treaties are preceded by intricate, lenghty negotiations. While I think that every adult should be able to vote on his or her representatives, I don't think that the average bloke has either the intelligence or the knowledge to make an informed judgement about these treaties. Or any treaty at all, frankly. The Irish voted down the Lisbon treaty and only voted for it after they got promised all sorts of opt-outs and garantues. That is simply not a workable way to do things in a union of 27 member states.
I don't think it matters - if you can't explain the treaty to the people who elected you it's too complex. The Irish voted the treaty down, yes, but it wasn't popular in Britain, France, or the Netherlands either. The UK is one of the largest countries in the EU - how many rejections makes the difference between "a few people spoiling it" and "lacks popular support"

Anyway - the key point is that if these treaties had been explained to the Germans and put to a vote, they might not have got through, and if they had then Merkel et. al would have the authority to insist Germany support the rest of Europe.

I'm not opposed to holding referendums, but they should be about EU membership, with a simple yes or no. I could agree to a two-speed Europe; but it's simply not fair that a single member state who refuses gets to stop the entire process for everyone.
So, just because a country doesn't like the current treaty, they should either leave or be thrown out?

If that principle was applied EU membership would fluctuate wildly.

Quote Originally Posted by Conradus View Post
The UK has no constitutional control on their laws? Ow, no constitution?
No - no Constitution, the Parliament cannot be bound - except by the sovereign

The European Parliament is elected. The European Commission isn't, but then again no goverment in the EU is elected by the public. You elect the Parliament which will in turn appoint a group of ministers (most of the times those who won the elections, but that's never been a conditio sine qua non).
If you disagree with an Eu-act, you can always challenge it in front of the Court of Justice.
It is the Commission that originates ALL legislation, which makes the parliament a rubber stamp revising chamber. In the UK, we elect the body that originates the legislation, provides the executive, etc. and the revising chamber is appointed.