As Roman Herzog, former president of Germany and drafter of parts of the EU Constitution, pointed out recently, the EU is in a state that can no longer be accepted, and its proposed draft constitution would, if enacted, only preserve that state.
Two years ago, when the Council of Ministers violated its own procedural rules and left the 22 sharp questions which we asked them basically unanswered, it became clear to some of us that the EU Constitution, which was facing a referendum in France and the Netherlands, was a dangerous project that had to be stopped. At the time we formulated this view but then withdrew our paper due to adverse reactions from our friends in the European Parliament.
Now, due to Herzog's recent call, the ice seems to be broken. And the illegality of the 7th of March 2005 still seems to be one of the best examples for the deviousness of the EU's central legislative institution, the Council of Ministers. Herzog points out that this institution systematically serves to circumvent parliamentary democracy by a game called "Spiel mit Banden" or "legislative laundering", and that currently the driving force behind the push for codifying this state of affairs in a Constitution are the very ministerial officials who are playing this game.
As Michel Rocard, a constitution enthusiast, noted in his speech of July 7th of the same year (rejection day, another commemorable event), ministerial officials often act quite responsibly. The dangerousness of the Council of Ministers does not always become as apparent as it did when the Council of Ministers mixed with the European Patent Organization. This was the poisonous mixture that made the 7th of march 2005 the day which continues to be worth commemoration as "Banana Union Day".
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