Monday, January 28, 2008

As for the text of the treaty

I sincerely doubt I'll get through the whole thing. First of all, unlike the Constitution, this document doesn't stand on its own. It refers to the previous treaties, which means you probably need copies of those too in order to fully understand it.

So far I've read 2 or 3 pages. I really don't like this (Article 2.3):
The Union shall establish an internal market. It shall work for the sustainable development of Europe based on balanced economic growth and price stability, a highly competitive social market economy, aiming at full employment and social progress, and a high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment. It shall promote scientific and technological advance.

It shall combat social exclusion and discrimination, and shall promote social justice and protection, equality between women and men, solidarity between generations and protection of the rights of the child.

It shall promote economic, social and territorial cohesion, and solidarity among
Member States.

It shall respect its rich cultural and linguistic diversity, and shall ensure that Europe's cultural heritage is safeguarded and enhanced.
What does "balanced economic growth" mean? What does unbalanced economic growth look like? And, how do they define price stability? Does this mean if we vote for the treaty we can't expect the price of milk to rise or fall again? What about a gallon of gasoline? What a load of nonsense.

How is the EU going to promote "solidarity between generations"? Too much gobbleygook. They should have stopped after "internal market".