Ever-Closer and Economic Union

Propping-up Brown in office had a primary purpose for much of the British political elite: the ratification of the Lisbon constitutional treaty.  That is why he was permitted to remain, for any replacement would have triggered an immediate general election with a likely eurosceptic Conservative victory.  Now that the Lisbon objective has been achieved the Brown regime is attempting to revivify that  imperative by pretending that progress towards European economic convergence requires a reopening of the Lisbon treaty, and that Brown is standing firm against any such thing, as well as standing firm against any European interference with the directing of the British economy.

The German Chancellor knows perfectly well that there is a lack of legal provision in Lisbon for the next stage of economic ever-closer union.  She knows too that it was always going to be necessary for the EU to act in tandem with the IMF if reassurance over the Greek economy was not accepted as enough by the markets.  So the IMF has been harnessed-in to provide the institutional lacks of the European currency as currently organised.  Imagine if Lisbon had attempted to include institutional provision for Europe-wide economic government; what hope would there have been for its acceptance by the constitutionally well-defended member nation states then?  There are still constitutional amendments to Lisbon being piggy-backed onto future treaties.

Further provision for European economic government will be made in future treaties.  And when Brown stated there would be no more constitutional-effect treaties for a decade, and that there was not, had not been, and never would be need for a referendum, he was wrong; or dishonest.  As usual.