Tim Worstall

That EU Constitution Opt Out

Is not worth the paper it is written on:

Senior European Union officials confirmed yesterday that Britain’s "red line" opt-out from the European Charter of Fundamental Rights is not worth the paper it is written on.

Margot
Wallström, the European Commission Vice-President, insisted that the
charter will apply to huge swathes of British law, the 75 per cent or
more that is derived from EU legislation.

The logic is that, yes, of course, Britain has this opt out: but it does not apply to EU legislation. As EU originated laws are 75% or so of those passed, that means that the opt out only applies to 25% of the law.

As, of course, we only want the opt out to stop EU law, it is therefore worthless if it doesn’t actually apply to EU law.

In

3 responses

  1. Roger Thornhill Avatar
    Roger Thornhill

    Which means Blair, Beckett, Brown, Goldsmith and Falconer are either liars or incompetents.
    That is not a false dichotomy, and neither is the “or” exclusive…

    Reply
  2. ChrisM Avatar
    ChrisM

    “Which means Blair, Beckett, Brown, Goldsmith and Falconer are either liars or incompetents.
    That is not a false dichotomy, and neither is the “or” exclusive…”

    Indeed, because then you would have said “…are either liars XOR incompetents.”

    Reply
  3. Roger Thornhill Avatar
    Roger Thornhill

    Indeed, Chris. Alternatively, they are
    NOT (honest OR competent)
    = NOT(honest) AND NOT(competent)
    Boolean algebra is very useful when unpicking the lies of politicians.

    Reply

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