Uncertainty over the EU’s Lisbon Treaty is set to continue after the Czech Constitutional Court said it will not give its ruling until next week. Czech President Vaclav Klaus has said he will not sign the Treaty until the Court makes its decision. The Czech foreign minister is urging patience.
Posts Tagged ‘treaty’
“EU’s Lisbon treaty can’t be blocked”
October 18th, 2009 |
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Czech President Vaclav Klaus has indicated he could be set to sign the EU reform treaty. He says it’s too far gone to block, even if he wants to.
Klaus steadfast on Lisbon Treaty
October 14th, 2009 |
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Czech President Vaclav Klaus said in Moscow on Wednesday that he has no intention of changing his position regarding the signing of EU’s Lisbon Treaty. “I can say nothing new on that subject,” Itar-Tass news agency reported Klaus as saying after meeting his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.
Polish president signs EU treaty
October 10th, 2009 |
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Polish Pres. Lech Kaczynski has signed the European Union’s reform treaty into law, leaving the Czech Republic as the only country still to ratify the document. Kaczynski, a Euroskeptical conservative, signed the Lisbon Treaty at a ceremony in the presidential palace attended by the heads of the European Commission and the European Parliament.
EU treaty boost as Ireland votes yes
October 4th, 2009 |
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Opinion polls had predicted a tight result in the referendum in Ireland on the Lisbon Treaty. In the end the result was a landslide. The result not only increases the chances of the treaty coming into force, it also increases the credibility of the institutions that it’s set to reform.
Ireland backs key EU reform treaty
October 4th, 2009 |
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Ireland voted decisively to endorse the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, overturning a No vote in a previous referendum, as leaders Saturday hailed a key step towards ending the 27-nation bloc’s deadlock. More than two-thirds of voters approved the treaty, which is designed to streamline decision-making
Lisbon treaty opens doors, says Jeremić
October 3rd, 2009 |
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Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić believes that the success of the Irish EU referendum marks a “new episode in the development of the EU”. He thinks that the expected positive result of the referendum opens the door to all European peoples including those in the Western Balkans.
Lisbon treaty opens doors, says Jeremić
October 3rd, 2009 |
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Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić believes that the success of the Irish EU referendum marks a “new episode in the development of the EU”. He thinks that the expected positive result of the referendum opens the door to all European peoples including those in the Western Balkans.
New Czech move to block EU treaty
September 30th, 2009 |
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Czech senators opposed to the EU’s Lisbon Treaty have filed a new complaint against it with the country’s constitutional court. The complaint could create a new delay to treaty ratification, even if Irish voters back the treaty in a referendum on Friday.
Shashi Tharoor says NPT is discriminatory
September 25th, 2009 |
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Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor has said that India will not adhere to any treaty such as the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and will not sign it as long as it is discriminatory.
He said this on the occasion of the release of the book ”Shadows Across The Playing Field – 60 Years [...]
Obama asks all non-NPT signatories to join the treaty
September 25th, 2009 |
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The 15 member United Nations Security Council today asked all non- Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signatories to join the treaty.
The UNSC summit chaired by US President Barack Obama approved the resolution 1887, calling on countries that have not signed the NPT to comply fully with all their obligations.
Obama said the resolution will strengthen the NPT. “We [...]
Dublin reassures Brussels over treaty “Yes” vote
September 8th, 2009 |
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The Irish government has promised it will deliver a resounding ‘Yes’ vote in next month’s referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. The EU’s ambitious reforms depend on Ireland’s decision and although the ‘Yes’ camp is ahead in the polls, its lead is shortening.
Irish Lisbon support teeters
September 5th, 2009 |
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Lisbon Treaty support in Ireland has dropped and the number of undecided voters has increased, but the yes are still ahead. Four weeks remain before the second Irish referendum on the treaty to streamline EU decision-making.
Aug. 5, 1963: Finally, a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
August 5th, 2009 |
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1963: Three of the four nuclear powers sign a limited treaty that bans most, but not all, nuclear weapons testing.
The Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed in Moscow by the United States, Soviet Union and Great Britain. The fourth nation to possess “the bomb,” France, did not sign the treaty. Nor did China, which [...]
Hacker’s ‘moral crusade’ over UFO
July 28th, 2009 |
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A Briton fighting extradition to the US for hacking into top-secret computers claims he was morally justified in breaking the law.
Gary McKinnon, 43, from Wood Green, north London, admits hacking into 97 US government computers, including Nasa’s and Pentagon’s, during 2001 and 2002.
He told the BBC he was on a "moral crusade" to prove US intelligence had found an alien craft run on clean fuel.
Results of judicial reviews into Mr McKinnon’s case are due on Friday.
They focus on whether Mr McKinnon should have been allowed to face trial in the UK and whether the decision to extradite him should have been reconsidered in light of his diagnosis as having Asperger’s Syndrome last year.
His lawyers say he is "eccentric" rather than malicious and that he should be tried on lesser charges in the UK to protect his mental health.
"It is actually a completely unbalanced extradition treaty"
Gary McKinnon
Mr McKinnon is accused of hacking into the computers with the intention of intimidating the US government.
His legal team fear he could be treated as a terrorist and face up to 70 years in jail.
The US government says his actions caused damage costing $800,000 (£500,000) at a time of heightened security in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks.
Mr McKinnon told BBC Radio 5 live’s Victoria Derbyshire show: "I’m not blind to criminality but I was on a moral crusade at the time.
"There was good evidence to show that certain secretive parts of the American government intelligence agencies did have access to crashed extra terrestrial technology which could… save us as a form of free, clean, pollution-free energy.
"I thought if someone was holding on to that, that was actually unconstitutional under American law."
‘Two-way street’
Mr McKinnon also criticised arrangements between the two countries that meant the US only had to prove "reasonable suspicion" to force extradition of a British citizen.
To extradite an American from the US, the British must prove "probable cause".
"It is actually a completely unbalanced extradition treaty. It should be a two-way street," said Mr McKinnon.
Earlier this month, the Conservatives failed in a bid to force a review of the law when their Commons motion was defeated by 54 votes.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson told them the 2003 treaty had simplified extradition procedures while safeguarding defendants’ rights.
The burden of evidence required on each side is "essentially" the same, he added.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Spanish minister on rocks over Gibraltar visit
July 21st, 2009 |
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It was some time back in 1704 when a Spanish minister last set foot on Gibraltar after Spain ceded the territory to Britain under the Treaty of Utrecht. After much diplomatic wrangling Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos is due to hold talks with his British counterpart David Miliband and Gibralter’s Chief Minister Peter Caruana on the rock itself.
Blair in frame to become first EU president
July 15th, 2009 |
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Britain’s new Europe minister says ex-prime minister’s candidacy would have full backing of British government
Tony Blair is a contender to become the first president of the EU with the full backing of the British government, the new Europe minister said today.
Glenys Kinnock, in Strasbourg for the opening session of the new European parliament, said that although the former prime minister had not formally declared his candidacy, it was “certainly” the government position to support him.
“I am sure they would not do it without asking him,” Lady Kinnock said. “The UK government is supporting Tony Blair’s candidature for president of the council.”
The new post is to be created under the Lisbon treaty, which will streamline the way the EU is run if it is endorsed in an Irish referendum in early October.
Blair would be the first sitting president of the EU, who will be appointed by European government chiefs for a minimum of 30 months and a maximum of five years.
If the Irish back the treaty on 2 October, EU leaders are expected to decide on who will get the presidency at a summit at the end of that month.
“Blair is seen by many as someone who has the strength of character, the stature,” Kinnock said.
“People know who he is, and he would be someone who would have this role and step into it with a lot of respect and I think would be generally welcomed.”
While Blair has declined to declare himself as a candidate before the outcome of the Irish referendum, Kinnock’s remarks were the first solid confirmation that he is to run for the job.
However, British diplomats said her comments remained speculation for the moment because the Irish could yet vote down the treaty – as they did in their first referendum last year.
“The reality is Lisbon has not entered into force,” one diplomat said. “Blair has yet to say whether he will stand.”
A spokesman for the ex-PM said: “The job doesn’t exist, so there is nothing to be a candidate for.”
If he stands for the post, the founder of New Labour could yet in to stiff opposition in Europe.
Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish prime minister – who took over the rotating presidency of the EU this month and will chair the October summit – is known to be strongly opposed to a Blair presidency.
Reinfeldt told the Guardian he would not get into any discussion about names for the post, while a senior European diplomat said the presidency would be “the absolute top subject” at the October summit.
Reinfeldt said he expected to oversee the launch of the Lisbon treaty, “including the elected council chairman [Europe president]“.
He added that if the treaty was ratified by all member states, he expected “very many names” to be put forward for the presidency.
José Luis RodrÃguez Zapatero, the Spanish prime minister, who will succeed to the EU presidency after Reinfeldt in January, is also an opponent of Blair.
France’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, an early fan of the idea of President Blair, appears now to have turned lukewarm.
William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, said the creation of a new EU president “could be enormously damaging for Europe”.
“Any holder is likely to try to centralise power for themselves in Brussels and dominate national foreign policies,” he said.
“In the hands of an operator as ambitious as Tony Blair, that is a near certainty. He should be let nowhere near the job.
“It shows what a grip Lord Mandelson now has over Gordon Brown that he has been forced to support his bitterest rival.”
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