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The EU - the nature of the beast
by Watchman
 In the aftermath of the second world war, political leaders - the prime movers being France and Germany - made the initial moves to create what is now know as the European Union. And the succession of names given to the growing alliance illustrates the progression in geographic, economic and political scope from the late 1940s until the present day.
- The European Coal and Steel Community The ECSC was formed in 1950 and this act of bringing coal and steel - as the means of production and the raw materials for the machineries of war " - under one roof" was seen as a way of preventing future European conflict. The six founders were France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. However the scope of the ECSC was set to expand to become -
- The European Economic Community (EEC - or "Common Market) The Treaty of Rome was signed in 1957, and this treaty formalised both the geographic enlargement that has since progressed, but also the huge expansion of scope to cover most spheres of commerce and industry. The term EEC was very quickly replaced by -
- The European Community (EC). By dropping the word "economic" from its title the EEC (EC) takes an authority over all areas of life. In turn the term "community" was then replaced to become -
- The European Union (EU). Through a succession of boundary enlargements, the "Union" now includes countries from the former Soviet Union (FSU).
Successive boundary enlargements
In 1973 the European Communities were joined by Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom, followed by Greece in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986, Austria, Finland and Sweden in 1995.
In May 2004, the European Union expanded into Central and Eastern Europe. Ten new countries joined the EU: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Bulgaria and Romania joined this year (2007), while Croatia and Turkey are also candidates.
So what started in the late 1940s as an alliance of 6 countries (nation/states) relating to the coal and steel industries has progressed to become something far beyond its beginnings.
(For an overview of the geographic expansion <click here>.)
The Lisbon Treaty - 13 December 2007
The treaty signed on 13 December 2007 is a replacement for the failed Constitution which was rejected by the French and the Dutch in 2005; and - amongst other things - creates the permanent post of President of the European Union and a de-facto office of EU Foreign Secretary. Most European leaders acknowledge that the main substance of the constitution will be preserved.
(For more detailed information <click here>.)
Brueghel's painting of the Tower of Babel
The Empire of Europe - Babel reborn?
 Whilst there are markedly different views on the philosophies under-pinning the formation, expansion and role of the EU, there will be very few, on both sides of the debate who will disagree with the use of the term "super-state" to describe what the EU has now become. What we are witnessing is the creation of a latter-day european empire.
Supporters see european integration as creating the climate for peace and prosperity. Others think differently.
Initially created in an attempt to prevent european conflict many now feel that the EU - in what it has now become - sets the scene and creates the conditions for future strife.
From a biblical perspective, many Christians - supported by the EU's determination to exclude reference to God from its failed constitution - feel that what is apparent is an end-time manifestation of the spirit of Babel.
According to the BBC the European Parliament building in Strasbourg incorporates a unique sound and lighting system which will cause the dome of the parliament chamber to light up as the volume (noise level) of discussions rises. The BBC report states: A lighting system made up of optical fibres is installed like a constellation around the dome of the amphitheatre, blinking more or less intensely according to the sound level of the parliamentary debates.
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Ed footnote: What do we make of all of this? Answers on a postcard; or by hitting the "Comment" button below.
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Watchman, 13/12/2007 |
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| | EU Watcher (Guest) | 03/02/2009, 14:48 | | Letter in daily newspaper -
Striking over foreign workers
SIR, - As I write, workers are on strike because of the use of foreigners on a construction site.
What the strikers do not realise is that they, themselves, are Europeans and the "foreigners" are Europeans, so there is nothing to uphold their protest -according to EU law.
They could, in fact, find themselves imprisoned for acts contrary to the security of the state - the European Union.
| | | Newswatcher (Guest) | 16/02/2009, 17:31 | | It is now illegal – illegal – for the government of an EU country to put the needs and concerns of its own population first.
Check out -
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/janetdaley/4424125/Wildcat-oil-strikes-Europeans-are-finally-waking-up-to-the-demise-of-democracy.html
| | | EU Watcher (Guest) | 26/02/2009, 16:24 | | Friends, have a look at this one -
http://www.lifebite.co.uk/index.php/home/detail/the_mark_of_the_beast/
| | | Rosemary Cameron | 26/02/2009, 20:46 | | Thankyou EU Watcher for directing us to the excellent article on lifebite.co.uk.
| | | EU Watcher (Guest) | 08/04/2009, 10:41 | | An EU directive forcing ISPs to keep internet data on customers for one year officially comes into force in the UK.
The start date of the EU directive was three weeks ago, but today the UK government officially implements the legislation.
The directive means that all ISPs will have to hold data that determines communications between individuals, but is not supposed to store the content of emails and websites.
Read on at IT Pro - http://www.itpro.co.uk/610439/isps-forced-to-keep-user-data-at-48-million-cost
The data (mentioned above) will include names, dates of birth, billing addresses and credit card information, in addition to IP addresses and session data.
And 'social networking' systems must be a boon to Big Brother in all of this. I bet that there are not many Christians in the underground churches in China (and elsewhere) signing up to these things.
| | | Newswatcher (Guest) | 26/04/2009, 15:24 | | A secret European Union report has revealed widespread criminal abuse of staff allowances by members of the European Parliament, worth nearly £100m a year.
Senior MEPs made attempts to hush up the internal audit that uncovered the misuse of funds, which amounted to about £125,000 for each of the 785 MEPs who constitute the parliament.
See - http://www.accountancyage.com/accountancyage/news/2210173/eu-internal-auditor-uncovers
| | | The Editor | 05/05/2009, 16:09 | | CARE Launches Euro Election Web Site www.Vote2009.eu
Today CARE unveils its new website, www.vote2009.eu, exactly one month before the June 4th European Parliamentary elections.
The website provides information on candidates, parties, political briefs on key issues of concerns for Christians, as well as information about Christian citizenship, the European Union and the European Parliament.
Conceived to enhance Christian involvement for these elections, the vote2009.eu website seeks to be an instrument of dialogue between candidates and voters. CARE has sent a questionnaire to the heads of all the UK parties delegations at the European Parliament and will be posting their answers online. Moreover, the issues section of the website contains briefing documents on various issues, including bioethics, human trafficking, equalities, internet gambling etc, and suggests questions that people can ask of their candidates.
Daniel Boucher, CARE's Director of Parliamentary Affairs explained, "Voting is a key civic responsibility for any Christian committed to being salt and light. It is vital that we engage in the upcoming elections, holding MEPs to account for the previous Parliament and making it plain what they want from those elected to the next Parliament. The web site will help you engage with this challenge."
Thanks to its cooperation with national organisations across Europe and with the European Evangelical Alliance (EEA), the site will also be providing information, in their native language, to Christians from Spain, the Czech Republic, Belgium, France, Ireland, and Greece.
David Fieldsend, CARE for Europe's manager said, "This was a real challenge, but we hope this will allow people to get a better understanding of the issues at stake in the European Union, and to get involved."
Julia Doxat-Purser, Socio-Political Representative for the EEA, continued, "To be able to work together to provide a tool for Christian involvement across Europe has been a real joy to us. We trust this website will encourage people to think, pray, ask questions, and vote!"
| | | Rosemary Cameron | 05/05/2009, 21:04 | | At the end of March CARE put out an email about the Equal Treatment Directive coming before the EU Parliament. Quoting from their email - "Among other things, the Directive introduces a new offence of harassment in relation to religion or belief, sexual orientation, disability or age. Harassment is defined as ‘unwanted conduct which takes place with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person and of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.’
Defined in these terms there are major concerns that: Christians preaching the gospel to people from other faiths could be found guilty of harassing them. Christians defending a biblical approach to sexual relations in the context of monogamous heterosexual marriage could be found guilty of harassing those living in active gay relationships. The proposed harassment offence is very illiberal and constitutes a major threat to free speech."
I wrote to Catherine Stihler, Labout MEP for Scotland, expressing my concern, particularly with regard to free speech. Her reply made it quite clear that she supported the directive in its entirety. She also seemed to be critical of the fact that she had received a number of similar emails on the same topic, leading her to believe that a campaign was being coordinated by the Christian Institute. In actual fact it was CARE, however that should not have been a barrier to her considering the views of her constituents, given that they had taken the time to write to her. I found her seemingly antagonistic attitude to a christian campaign all the more difficult to understand given that she claimed to be a regular attender at a Dunfermline church when she stood (and failed) to be elected to Westminster in the Dunfermline by-election in 2006.
Scotland is regarded as one region for the EU election, the MEPs being selected according to the number of votes their party receives. EU directives do affect us so I would encourage everyone to find out about the different party policies and vote accordingly. Many thanks to CARE for highlighting the issues involved and providing a useful website.
| | | Rosemary Cameron | 21/05/2009, 22:15 | | I am trying to compare the different party manifestos in order to decide who to vote for in the EU elections however, with only 2 weeks to go, the Christian Party Christian People's Alliance (CPCPA) do not seem to have published a manifesto - only a few policies on their webpage www.votechristian.info - and the lead candidate for Scotland, Sheila McLaughlin (erstwhile council candidate) is unable to answer the questions I put to her about the party's policies. If anyone out there can direct me to a manifesto for the CPCPA I would be very grateful. If anyone from the CPCPA is reading this, don't assume I'm going to vote for you just because you have the word 'christian' in your title (twice). I want to know your policies, in detail, including, but not restricted to, your policy on Scottish fisheries, your policy on Britain and the Euro and your policy on the working time opt-out.
| | | EU Watcher (Guest) | 03/02/2010, 16:44 | | Mr. Van Rompuy the first President of the European Counil will be as strong as the 27 leaders behind him make or want him to be.
This new position paves the way for the "one voice" Europe has lacked on international issues that could rival the power of the United States president-especially since no provisions are made to stop the European Commission president from being elected president of the Council, effectively combining two leading positions into one.
According to the EU website, current bylaws do "not prevent the President of the European Council from holding another mandate at the same time within another European institution.
This allows for the possibility, in [the] future, of combining the functions of President of the European Council with those of the President of the Commission, if the Member States so wish."
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