The instant response was a chorus of 'Bravi tutti.' But now the 500 billion euros of the ESM are looking not just very little but inaccessible.
The German Constitutional court had already called in the legislation on the ESM that was accepted with large (more than two thirds) majorities in the German parliament last Friday, requiring that the President of Germany should not sign it into law until the Court had ruled on its constitutionality.
The arrangements are supposed to have become effective in early July but are now held, awaiting the Court ruling (pace Finland and its claims to have vetoed the agreement, they are irrelevant as they contribute too little to be in a position to be vetoing anything, not even with the Netherlands in tow) before any of last Friday's performance got under way.
This may not be of front rank interest to the UK (any more than was the other event involving Italy and Germany last Friday evening) but it illustrates vividly what is the matter with the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union. When Heath paid so excessively to join, it was under the pretence of accessing the common market; yet not only was the British Constitution not restructured to meet the UK's wholly altered but vastly under-acknowledged constitutional status, there is no intention of ever providing the safeguards and redress systems to contested EU behaviour that is driving the demands to leave the European Union by democratic forces in the UK.
Germany, and most other EU member-states, has functioning safeguards for its citizens against pan-European elites and pan-European policies. It would be naive to imagine that the German Chancellor and the Italian Prime Minister are unaware of the capacity for national constitutional challenge.
They were relying on it. Germany has gone first but Italy, and France, are fully equipped with the means to block the actual use of ESM funds - so grossly inadequate for their purposes. Further, if any of such (relatively) small funds are called upon we can all take away (unless we are in an English primary school in which case lots of us can't.)
It was beautifully done, as was the Italian play in the semifinals but, in the end, they will dance the fandango
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4 comments:
When the common market wallahs suddenly introduced new terms on fishing at the last moment, Heath should have said that they had been negotiating in bad faith, and withdrawn our application.
Such a wonderful piece, worth listening to through to the end, as it gets better (and harder) as it goes on.
Lovely instrument he has there.
Musician, it was Scott Ross that swung the choice, rather than Soler. He looks so at ease - and the difficulties must be demonic, all those cross-handed playing-between-the-other-set-of-fingers, for a start.
The Boccherini
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw6t-rqTgAM&feature=related
with two harpsichordists and CASTANETS, is to travel a long way to hear and see for. It's hard to imagine some severe-faced German playing the castanets though.
Heath was never held to account, Dearieme, except by Mrs Thatcher's resounding political slap.
Brown, our modern-day Heath in every meaning if the word 'heath', must not be allowed to get away with what he did, and what he tried to do.
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