How Absolutely Delightful

No one will actually know what is being negotiated until it’s already been signed:

EU leaders are racing against the clock to rush
through a new "reform treaty" to replace the constitution rejected by
French and Dutch voters in 2005.

Officials close
to the organisation of negotiations have admitted that documents in all
the EU’s 23 languages are not expected until December, when a formal
ratification text will be signed by Europe’s leaders.

"We
believe it is a problem but we have a mandate that is tight. There is
urgency. Doing all this within six months is unprecedented and there
are going to be real limitations to the process," said an official.

Normal EU rules stipulating that documents must at least be in German, French and English have been suspended.

The Conservative MP Roger Gale has asked for, and been refused, a copy of the new treaty in English.

So Mr. Worstall. Here is the contract for your whelk stall. It’s in Albanian but don’t worry, we’ll get you an English copy after we’ve finished all of the negotiations and the actual one that you sign will of course be in your language. It’s just that you won’t know what we’re negotiating or have negotiated until that moment that you do sign.

We wouldn’t do something trivial that way, so why in hell would we try to run a continent that way?

2 responses

  1. Those who demand more intergovernmentalism ask for more secret diplomacy, so why complain?
    At least the Portuguese presidency has made the texts available in French, although the essentials are known to all who care to find out, in almost any language.
    Those who read other things than British tabloids might even learn something.
    By the way, the European Union tries to stimulate interest in language learning. Time to catch up?
    Regards
    Ralf Grahn
    P.S. Sign up for the pan-European referendum.

  2. Ralf:
    There is toi, what is blunt or something? It grants itself that the negotiations occur in a text, which is not a same agreement to the Englishman, is irrationally expects the BRITISH representatives them, which sign, and is parliament it then to ratify.
    All clear now?
    Stanley Unwin.

Leave a Reply

Discover more from Tim Worstall

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading