Mr. Van Rompuy’s first visit to an EU province. Crowd at reception could only be compared to the empty streets of 1941 when Italian troops marched into Ljubljana:

thanks to Vest.si and their video-journalist Mrs. Elena Pečarič, fighter against EU dictate and for the rights of people with handicap

Copenhagen, 28th of September 2009

To the People of Ireland,

Many media claim that in a very short while the Lisbon Treaty will be ratified by all the EU member states – as if this ratification process was simple and unproblematic. But Poland, The Czech Republic and Germany have not yet finished their ratification. This is mainly due to law suits, documenting the profound consequences that accession to the Treaty will have for the member countries.

We, a group of citizens who have brought an action against the Danish Government, charging it with breaking the Danish Constitution, take the liberty to draw the attention of the Irish People to these pending law suits and to the serious political effects of the Lisbon Treaty that they demonstrate. The Treaty confers almost unlimited powers on the EU, thus undermining the Constitutions and the living Democracy in the member countries. It threatens the possibility of the peoples of Europe to have a decisive influence on their own societies and living conditions.

In the pending case we demonstrate that leading Danish politicians in agreement with European Heads of Government have committed an offence against the Danish Constitution. First and foremost they have hidden or explained away the real content of the Lisbon Treaty which is of so radical a character that the Treaty, according to the Danish Constitution, can only be ratified if it is approved in a referendum. This law suit is part of our fight for Democracy.

In Denmark, unfortunately, a law suit does not imply that the ratification is postponed until the Supreme Court has pronounced its judgement. In Germany however the recent judgement of the Constitutional Court means that the Treaty can not be finally ratified unless German laws are passed that will guard German Democracy. This is remarkable and clearly shows that Democracy is undermined if no clear limits are fixed to the extension of the powers of the EU. And already new cases have been brought before the German Constitutional Court, this time questioning whether the new hastily adapted laws give the required guarantees for German Democracy. The final German ratification of the Lisbon Treaty therefore is not yet certain.

A majority of you voted no to the Lisbon Treaty, and consequently the correct procedure would have been to abandon it. But this did not happen, and since then nothing has been altered in the Treaty. It is both undemocratic and inconsistent with the rules of the EU itself that you now have to vote about the same Treaty again – a scandalous way of forcing through a Treaty that the majority of European citizens are against.

It is disquieting that we in Europe have come to a point where Heads of State and Governments decide to carry out so extensive changes ignoring not only the political and legal rules of the EU but even the Constitutions and democratic practices of the individual member states.

We are worried about Democracy at both the National and the European level, and we ask the People of Ireland to bear this in mind when you vote on the 2nd of October.

On behalf of The Plaintiffs in the law suit against the Danish Government,

Helge Rørtoft-Madsen
phone number 0045-55980644 and 0045-26825562
roertoft (at) hotmail.com

Similar situation in Slovenia too.

What we’ll describe here is a short list of combined unconstitutional moves made by Slovenian legislative, executive and judicial powers to enable the ratification of Croatian accession to NATO. All these breaches took many masks off and therefore it will be much harder to pull off the Croatian EU membership without major problems.

In an excellent book “The hard sell: EU communication policy and the campaign for hearts and minds” (155 pages, .pdf, 778,9 KiB) by Open Europe, dr. Lee Rotherham and Lorraine Mullally have collected an enormous pile of documented proof that EU is waging a massive PR offensive over the continent of Europe.

In a blog accompanying the book dr. Rotherham outlines one vivid example of such propaganda with the case of Slovenia which is treated within the EU circles as a “good pupil” of EU. Here are listed just few of the examples of EU’s self promotion, paid by the taxpayers of 27 EU member-states:

• The Commission is understood to have funded a conference for young people, organised by Slovenian NGOs, to debate whether the EU constitution needed ratifying by referenda, followed by nibbles. Janez Lenarčič, State Secretary for European affairs and head of the local Commission Representation Mihela Zupančič (previously an NGO veteran, particularly in women’s rights) provided the introductions. The event had to be crashed by local Eurosceptic campaigners in order to be able to distribute their literature.
• A group of Team Europe experts has been set up nationally(# - read below!)
• Standard distribution procedures apply to centrally produced Commission material in Slovenian.
• CNVOS – the state-founded and sponsored Slovenian NGO Centre – organised a conference for NGOs on mechanisms for getting involved in dialogue with the European institutions. It anticipates Slovenian involvement in cross-border NGO groups that already receive EU subsidy and support, named in the main Open Europe publication.
• EU symbols, especially the flag, are now omnipresent.
• Europe Day has taken over the role formerly played by Victory Day.
• EVROFON has been run by the state as its EU support project. One recent action amongst many has been to organise a workshop for NGOs on sustainable energy and the development of EU policy. One commentator very harshly critiques it so: “Some NGOs (and with that some quisling individuals) get the money, fake debates are made public and people are served an illusion of a functioning EU democracy.”
• An Erasmus van has also reportedly visited Slovenia as part of a much bigger tour.
• The Commission Representation itself costs €10,000 a year to service. €40,000 was reportedly spent on buying equipment for a conference hall and for an EP information point. A further €55,000 was earmarked for “physical protection and reception”.
• In addition to the Commission’s building and the EP’s building (Slovenia has just 7 MEPs), there are Europe Houses in both the capital and in Maribor. A key player is the Center Evropa, which is registered as an NGO – a detail that suggests a decentralised information campaign will be the one adopted in the long run.
• External collaboration projects are on record for 2006. €22,000 went to a PR company whose key figure is reportedly a former state broadcast journalist with good contacts in government. €29,000 is listed as going to the same agency to distribute a booklet on the Euro. €15,000 went to a privatised press agency. €18,000 went on the Representation’s website.
• A small sum (€1,670, likely to be state funding) in 2005 funded a meeting for teenagers. It was important for the feedback it provided the planners: “Participants were satisfied with the project but at least in summer activities they have openly admitted that they already have enough of this EU knowledge and they don’t want to listen about other countries anymore”. Media coverage on the EU was seen as perfunctory and dull. Receiving EU information activity felt like school work. This clearly was not good news! Consequently, “the methods to work with children and their ways to learn about EU should be upgraded”.
• Other listed activities that have been known to have been run over the past few years include Evropa v šoli (classroom competitions on Europe); Enake možnosti za vse - enakost spolov (Equal opportunities for all - equality of sexes), Sodelovanje v evropi različnosti (Cooperation within European diversity), Sem državljanka - sem državljan v spreminjajoči se Evropi (I am a citizen in a changing Europe), Evropa skozi kulturo in šport (Europe through culture and sport), Različni in enaki živimo skupaj v Evropi, in na planetu zemlja (Different and equal we live together in Europe and on planet earth [sic]), Naša zgodovina - naša prihodnost (Our history - our future), and Lepše okolje - lepša Evropa (Nicer environment - nicer Europe).
• Further events that have been identified as carrying propaganda value include the following: Spring Day in Europe 2007 - Together since 1957: Schools celebrate Europe; “Goodbye to Tolar, hello to Euro!” competition; a Contest for a logo at the 50th anniversary of signing of Treaty of Rome; Contest by the weekly magazine Mag for the best column article of youngsters; Spring Day in Europe - We discuss our future; involvement in a Euroquiz with Austrian television; Web chat with Commissioner Michel; “I have become an European citizen” contest; EU essay; best postcard competition; Europe contest in school; the essay competition “I live in the EU” (views on the future of Slovenia in EU, from the viewpoint of youngsters); debate on the future of the EU; Spring day in Europe and debate on enlargement; material on the participation of youth delegates on the Convention on the Future of Europe; Young European contest; programme of research grants funded by a Commission-linked NGO; secondary school participation in a model EP; and a contest for the best paper written on Slovenian accession to the EU.
• A recent appeal to the Government’s Communication Office for €6,000 to arrange a trans-European but Eurosceptic summer camp, on the other hand, was turned down. The sum total of grants to Eurosceptic organisations in Slovenia since independence is believed to amount to one award of €5,000.
• €35,000 went to material distributed through the Students Union at Ljubljana, which we understand to be the funding behind the booklet Zgrabi Evropo (Grab Europe). This is an upbeat presentation on European evolution, with plenty of quotes from Commissioners and Team Europe(#) supporters selling their wares, concluding with a crossword puzzle with prizes. It was a local Commission initiative, its third publication in the year. 75,000 copies were printed for students in Higher Education across the country.

(#) Isn’t “Team Europe” a nice PR twist also used to confuse it with (original) TEAM ? They describe themselves as the European Commission’s panel of independent conference speakers. The members are lawyers, consultants, academics, etc. covering all fields of activity of the Union’s policies and working languages. They are chosen by the Commission’s Representations in the Member States.

This is not the breaking news on Slovenian blockade of Croatian entry to EU.

Nearly half of Slovenians would take part in a referendum on Croatia’s EU membership and most would reject their neighbour’s entry into the 27-national bloc, a new survey has shown.

The poll, published in Croatian weekly Globus on Wednesday (14 January), indicates that 48.2 percent of Slovenians would vote in a referendum on Croatia’s EU membership, while 31.5 percent would not.

Some 47.5 percent of those asked would be against Croatia’s EU entry, while 36.8 percent would support it.

More in: euobserver.com and Reuters.

Again - it is not to forget that the Croatian voters have been effectively denied the right to hold a referendum on EU accession by their own political elite. Same goes for NATO. Who than “defends democracy” we wonder?

Croatian accession treaty was already menitoned plan C for passing the Lisbon Treaty through regardless of people’s hopes of referendums. But here we are now in a special situation where anything can happen.

Slovenian public has been tense for many years about the details at the south border with Croatia. Open exit to the international waters and some land disputes have been enough for Slovenes to start debating a referendum thus “preventing” Croatia from entering EU.

On the other hand same referendum attempts can be seen as an altruistic and brotherly gesture by Slovenes who have already experienced “bright lights of Brussels” and found nothing spectacular there. Seeing that Croatian political elite has no intention of calling referendums on EU and NATO accession - Slovenes might do just what is right - to help your neighbour in trouble.

Additionaly in euobserver.com and euractiv.com.

This is most recent report from Slovenian Constitutional Court (here is our previous one):

After 7 months of “hard deliberation” only six judges (out of 9) have been deciding on such a “minor” case as is the case of referendums and of the Lisbon Treaty ratification.

It took them 7 months to bring the verdict - NGO Hervardi “don’t posses the legal interest” to file such a claim and they have “not yet used all legal means available to them”. Both claims are highly dubious and border on the coup d’etat. Power of the People has been taken away from them by means of law.

As in the case of ECJ - European political elites are using courts and law to further their imperial goals.

NGO Hervardi will continue to use all their legal rights to make referendum in Slovenia possible.

We’ve been quite regularly informing you that NGO Hervardi from Slovenia have tried to call a referendum and have been denied their right to start the collection of 40.000 signatures by the Ministry of Interior and the President of the Parliament.

This was on March 13th 2008 and since then the Constitutional Court has waited with their decision. Today a new session agenda has been announced and the last topic is finally - the referendum on the Renamed EU Constitution and the ratification of The Treaty itself.

“20. Zveza domoljubnih društev Hervardi, Maribor - Pobuda za oceno ustavnosti 12.a, 16. in 16.b člena Zakona o referendumu in ljudski iniciativi (Uradni list RS, št. 26/07) in Zakona o ratifikaciji Lizbonske pogodbe, ki spreminja Pogodbo o ustanovitvi Evropske skupnosti (U-I-49/08)”

Feel free to return to our page and watch the next episode of… “The Lisbon Lizard vs. Truthzilla”

In the first half of the year he was respected and acknowledged in the role of the President of the European Council, now he’s in the centre of arms-deal affair. Where is that possible? Only in Slovenia.

Although that the outspoken Irish opponent of the Lisbon Treaty, businessman Ulick McEvaddy (chief executive of Omega Air) likened EU to a “Communist-Moscow-style” dictatorship he did add one important fact, namely that “the EU lacks the KGB, thankfully”.

Well if the EU still does not entail its own KGB/CIA than at least they are working on something resembling SPETSNAZ/FBI.

Following addition is rather old (two weeks) but it fits in this story and in our previous article perfectly: Secret EU security draft to pool policing and give US personal data.

In this article by The Guardian you will learn that there exists so called Future Group of interior and justice ministers from six EU member states - Germany, France, Sweden, Portugal, Slovenia and the Czech Republic.

Zey wil protect us.

Article from Jutarnji list:

Amongst the 1000 asked citizens of Croatia only 30% of them share the opinion that the membership in EU is “a good thing”, while 39% are “neutral” or think that “the membership is neither good or bad”.

Quite to the contrary Macedonians (FYROM) would gladly accept EU - 72% are in favour.

Croatia is one year away from technical closing of membership negotiations. Most pressure has been around ZERP (Law on Ecological and Fishing Belt) and around shipbuilding scandals. Also extremely mild attitude from EU against Serbia and its Hague tourists has been detrimental for the Croatian optimism.

In EU member states as Ireland, Denmark, Poland, Slovenia and Netherlands there are between 70% to 80% of those who see much larger benefits than negative aspects.

In lands like Hungary and Austria around half of the people sees EU as “more damage than benefits”.

In Croatia again only 44% believe that possible membership in EU will bring benefits, while 50% of Turks thinks the same for Turkey and in Macedonia(FYROM) 80% of those asked.

R (Wheeler)

v

Office of the Prime Minister and
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

DIRECTION

I refer to the undated letter emailed by the Treasury Solicitors to my clerk yesterday afternoon, indicating that the Government “is now proceeding to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon”.

The court is very surprised that the Government apparently proposes to ratify while the claimant’s challenge to the decision not to hold a referendum on ratification is before the court. The court expects judgment to be handed down next week. The defendants are invited to stay their hand voluntarily until judgment.

If, in the absence of any satisfactory assurance to that effect, the claimant decides to seek injunctive relief, I direct that the application be placed before me personally. I will make myself available today (save for this evening) and over the weekend should it be necessary, even though the hearing of any application may delay completion of the judgment: relevant contact details can be obtained from my clerk. I hope that it will not be necessary.

Copies of this direction should be sent to the parties and to the Administrative Court Office.

Lord Justice Richards
20 June 2008

And Mr. Stuart Wheeler predicts for the coming week:

Judgment in my case is likely to be given next week. As soon as it is given the result will be posted here.

Royal Assent to the bill does not constitute ratification. A further step is required i.e. the deposit of the ‘instruments of ratification’ with the Italian government. It would be quite wrong for our government to do that before my case, and any appeal have been decided.*

One more point: solicitors for the Prime Minister refused, on technical legal grounds, to produce documents which would, I feel sure, show that the only reason he is refusing a referendum is that he believes that he would lose it.*

Brown offers EU treaty assurances
EU treaty: Judge tells Gordon Brown to delay ratification

Small print at the end: Slovenia’s Constitutional Court has been pondering over the issue of holding a referendum since March - seems no one is in a particular hurry during the Slovenian presidency. Germany and Czech in similar legal position.

As foretold before the results of the polls went upside down. From today the YES side has the lower hand with 30% while the NO side rose up to 35%.

Irish Times reports:

The poll shows the number of people intending to vote No has almost doubled to 35 per cent (up 17 points) since the last poll three weeks ago, while the number of the Yes side has declined to 30 per cent (down 5 points).

The number of undecided voters is still a significant 28 per cent (down 12 points) while 7 per cent won’t vote.

Future days until June 12th will be filled with different activities in Europe and Ireland. Europe will start its football “circensem” on Saturday, Mr. Bush will represent USA in summit with EU in Slovenia on Monday and Tuesday. Thursday seems so far away. TEAM encourages people of both in Ireland and Europe to do their best in this coming week and to make this a historic NO for empires and YES for the people’s democracies.

Opinion poll shows huge rise in anti-Lisbon sentiment
New poll shows Yes strategy has backfired, says No group
Latest Irish poll shows EU treaty heading for defeat
Art-exhibition in Slovenia: “Overheard Focuses”

ADDITION:

How we can once more save Europe from the Dark Ages
Lisbon treaty poised on a knife edge
Irish voters poised to kill off EU ‘stealth constitution’
Lisbon would be a giant leap in the dark
Cowen must not yield to Yes blackmail

Many unclear and foggy manoeuvres will remain the trademark of this year’s ratification process.

Due to diverse legislation procedures in all 27 EU member-states it is hard to keep track of specific ratification in one member. In this manner Austria only yesterday legally ratified the REUC (Lisbon Treaty) when their President “Heinz Fischer on Monday (28th of April) signed the Lisbon Treaty “after conscientious examination of all the factors,” thus formally finalising the ratification process in Austria.

And EUobserver continues with logical conclusion that “ten other countries have ratified the document.”

What is more worrying is that it’s so hard to find any news on the status of specific ratifications - in Czech Republic and in Germany ratifications are legally and practically still far from finalisations. In Slovenia the Constitutional Court still has not found the time to investigate possible breaches of Constitution regarding holding a referendum. We have seen news from Hungary that individual court cases have been raised.

However if it’s Ireland we have to be worried about - apparently the skies are becoming clearer by the day: “Polls are narrowing”. Also people in Ireland are measurably (62%) under-informed over the gargantuan treaty.

Fact is - we have to prepare ourselves for “the day after”. It will be Friday June 13th and it will be a good day for Europe and the World if this monster of a treaty is stopped.

NEWSFLASH: Quite a charming news came from the Great Britain yesterday (2nd of May). Namely millionaire Stuart Wheeler has succeeded in gaining leave to appeal from the High Court over the government’s refusal to hold a referendum on the EU (constitutional) Lisbon treaty. The proceedings started last month and now two judges have ruled that there is an “arguable case” which warrants of full hearing. This, we are told, is likely to take two days, scheduled for 9-10 June.

Although Mr. Wheeler is considered by many as a man of good fortune it would not go well in the history of the Great Britain and Europe in general if he would be stood out alone with quite enormous litigation costs on his own back. Therefore he did make space for his kinsmen and other European activists to help him in the legal quest for justice, democracy and freedom.

Interesting - on 9th and 10th of June mr. Bush of USA comes to Europe and on 12th of June Ireland tosses the dice.

As we have been reporting through the last months in Slovenia there have been measurable actions by the civil society to ensure the referendum on the Renamed EU Constitution through a collection of signatures. NGO Hervardi have organised a network which succeeded in gathering approximately 2.700 signatures “in the street” in less than 7 days whereas 2.500 were needed (2nd step requires 40.000 signatures).

Ljubljana 20th March 2003

The undersigned represent two Slovenian parties and the Danish “People’s Movement against EU” declare the following in connection with the upcoming referendum on Slovenian EU-membership:

The governmental “information” campaign for accession to the European Union has not been balanced in fact only presenting possible benefits from membership. This campaign has also failed to even treat the current constitutional process within the Union transforming the EU from a treaty organisation to a politically unified, federal Superstate.

In 1994, the Slovenian Parliament made an agreement that when two of the largest Slovenian banks, NLB (Ljubljana) and NKBM (Maribor) would be prepared for the sale of their shares. A special statute (law) would also take into account the financial contribution of the whole Slovenian population, since these banks were recovered primarily because of the state controlled intervention, the so called recovery of banks.