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That's addressed directly in TFA: > The European Commissioner responsible for the treaty, Karel de Gucht, has said that he will ignore any rejections and re-ta
by maggit 14y ago
That's addressed directly in TFA:
> The European Commissioner responsible for the treaty, Karel de Gucht, has said that he will ignore any rejections and re-table it before the European Parliament until it passes. That’s not going to happen. Parliament takes its dignity very seriously and does not tolerate that kind of contempt, fortunately. This is something relatively new in the history of the European Union’s democracy – the first time I saw Parliament stand up for its dignity was during the Telecoms Package, where the Commission also tried to ram through three-strikes provisions. (Instead, Parliament made “three strikes” schemes illegal in the entire European Union.)
- willvarfar 14y agoyes, but the article is written by an activist with obvious bias. Not a bad thing, but TFA isn't authoritative.
- toyg 14y agoRegardless of bias, it is a fact that the Parliament, being a relatively new institution with very vague and weak powers (compared to the Commission and the Council), is eager to pick as many constitutional fights as it can win. In this sense, the Commissioner's remarks were like a red drape waved in front of a sleepy bull, and were probably the main cause for such an overwhelming rejection. Never tell politicians that they don't matter; it's the best way to motivate them to prove you wrong.