Western European News Digest

Potential Lisbon Treaty 'Fiasco' in Prague

March 28 (EIRNS)—German Social Democratic MEP Martin Schulz, spokesman of the Socialist group in the European Parliament, says it does not look good for the European Union's Lisbon Treaty; if it is rejected by the Czech Republic, one might just as well bury it. This would throw the EU back to the Treaty of Nice, which was ratified years ago by the 15 EU member-states; today, the EU has 27 members, all of which are dissatisfied with the Nice Treaty. That is why—as Schulz stresses—after the failure of the first draft for a European Constitution four years ago, the Lisbon Treaty was formulated. "If that also fails, it would be a fiasco," Schulz says.

In an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio on March 27, David Donoghue, Ireland's ambassador to Germany, claimed that the economic crisis is making the Irish more pro-European, which he thinks will help the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. The Irish defeated the Treaty in a referendum last June, but the government has agreed to a second referendum. A date for that has not been set. Donoghue forgot to mention that the pro-EU policy of the present Irish government is growing increasingly unpopular among the Irish people, especially the youth who have no jobs, and among the labor unions. A second referendum runs a high risk of yielding an even stronger "No" to the Lisbon Treaty, therefore.

EU Is Already a Federal Superstate

March 26 (EIRNS)—Prof. Tilman Hoppe, a scientific advisor to the German Parliament, has published an essay in the European Review of Economic Law (Europäischen Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht), which demonstrates statistically that EU-originated laws already comprise 80% of the current laws in Germany. Such a figure has circulated for 20 years, Hoppe says; however, it was based on a "prophecy" by former EU official Jacques Delors of France, and "the evidence was never produced up to now."

Hoppe's work provides powerful support for the current constitutional challenge against the Lisbon Treaty in Germany, which, he writes, "considers the Treaty unconstitutional because it 'de-statizes' member-countries in favor of the [European] Union. One argument is that in the member countries, the quota of EU-originated laws is prevailing over the quota of national laws.... A statistical survey of the current laws in Germany now shows for the first time that the 80% is indeed a realistic figure, and not only concerning economic laws."

Tony Blair Invented José Manuel Barroso

PARIS, March 29 (EIRNS)—British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced his full support for a second mandate for José Manuel Barroso, as president of the European Commission—the man who told the world that the "EU is an empire without an empire." Barroso's nomination "was a political invention of Tony Blair," the Paris daily Libération, wrote today. Like Blair, Barroso was in favor of the Iraq War.

Against the London-backed Barroso, Paris and Berlin supported former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, who opposed the war. But London "sold" Barroso as a an acceptable compromise. "Seen from London, Barroso behaved with gratitude," the paper wrote. "Elected to make 'fewer laws,' the amount of activity of the Commission was pretty much reduced to a minimum. Barroso promoted 'self-regulation' with the results one can see today. Besides the climate-energy package, all the other major laws under Barroso come from the preceding Commission."

Brits Declare: Genocide Begins at Home

March 24 (EIRNS)—A senior "green" advisor to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for cutting the population of Great Britain from the current 61 million subjects to no more than 30 million, in order to build a "sustainable society."

A former leading member of the Ecology Party, which was founded by Teddy Goldsmith, Jonathan Porritt, announced this at the annual conference this week of the Optimum Population Trust (OPT), of which he is the patron. The OPT will release "research" calling for cutting Britain's population in half, the level it was in Victorian England—that is, at the height of the power of the British Empire.

Another patron of OPT is Prof. Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb (1968), a call for radical population control.

Drug-Pushing Group ATTAC To Deploy in Germany

March 23—ATTAC, controlled by a section of George Soros's pro-dope apparatus and the British Fabians, has recently been leading demonstrations across Europe, tapping populist rage against the economic collapse.

The street actions effectively implement a report published this month by London's Economist Intelligence Unit, "Manning the Barricades." That report promises Jacobin upsurges, to try to intimidate any nation moving towards sovereign protectionism, and proposes an eventual global pattern of coups, revolutions, and wars among nations.

The Paris-based group ATTAC was taken over, in a 2006 organizational coup, run by Susan George, chairman of Soros's Transnational Institute of Amsterdam. On the Institute's website, George boasts of her success in overturning the ATTAC internal elections and pushing her nominees into control of the group. The American-born George is an associate of the British Fabian Society.

The Transnational Institute (TI) is funded by the Soros Open Society Institute, and by other Soros organizations devoted entirely to stopping drug law enforcement; by the Dutch Foreign Ministry, and by the European Commission. TI deployed against this month's United Nations drug policy meeting in Vienna, defending Britain's 19th-Century Opium War against China, and circulating literature criticizing the recent reduction of dope production in Asia's Golden Triangle.

In preparation for their planned "anti-globalism" street demonstrations, ATTAC distributed a pamphlet in German cities over the past few days, portraying a fantasy future in which former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his allies will have solved the world economic collapse through a new globalism.

High-Speed Train: Milan-Rome in Three Hours

March 26 (EIRNS)—A high-speed train for the first time made the run between Milan and Rome (550 km) in three hours. The ride, with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on board, inaugurated the completion of the Bologna-Florence mountain route (with 73 km of tunnels). Passengers will be able to regularly travel on the high-speed train starting in December. The state-owned rail company will issue special fares for students at an incredibly cheap EU33.

On the Milan-Bologna and Florence-Rome routes, the train reaches speeds up to 300 km/h. The train, named "Frecciarossa" (literally, red arrow) is the newest version of the Italian-made ETR 500, a technology used since the 1980s, but which could not be fully exploited up till now, due to lack of adequate rail lines. Since the activation of the high-speed connection, passenger traffic has increased to 45,000 people a day through the national grid. In the last three months, there has been an increase of 30% in passenger traffic on the Milan-Rome route. The date of Dec. 14 has been set for completion of the whole Turin-Salerno high-speed system.

Italian Writer: LaRouche Is Right on New Dark Age

March 25 (EIRNS)—In a letter to the online magazine Effedieffe.com, a reader reported that he had watched LaRouche's March 21 webcast, and asked whether LaRouche is right when he says that, unless his policies are implemented, there will be a 14th-Century-like collapse of civilization and a population reduction by two-thirds. Editor Maurizio Blondet, who has covered LaRouche for many years, answered: "I am afraid that Lyn is right."

Britain's New 'Community-Based' Anti-Terror Program

March 24 (EIRNS)—The government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown today released a new counterterrorism strategy document, which promises to continue turning the British Isles into a police state. Pre-release statements by Home Secretary Jaqui Smith advertised that MI5 would be coordinating the recruitment of up to 60,000 agents for surveillance—of shopping malls, sports facilities, and other public places—effectively "doubling the size" of the organization.

The centerpiece of the 170-page document, a four-point program called CONTEST: Pursue, Prevent, Protect, and Prepare, is at the center of these "community-based" efforts, but, with the assistance of the most advanced biometric detectors, and the most invasive network of security cameras in the world.