Western European News Digest

New Moves Against Fascist Lisbon Treaty

June 30 (EIRNS)—The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany published its 150-page ruling on the Lisbon Treaty today, giving the treaty its approval, but attaching numerous conditions, some of which pose the question as to why the court did not throw it out altogether.

This leaves room for new legal moves against the treaty, since plaintiffs can take to court whatever resolutions the parliament intends to pass.

The Presidents of Poland and the Czech Republic have reiterated that their final signature under their nations' approval of the treaty depends on the result of the second Irish referendum on Oct. 2. And Czech President Vaclav Klaus added that, whatever happens in the coming weeks, he will definitely be the "last of all heads of state in the EU to sign that treaty," giving no hint when that time would arrive.

UK May Soon Have over 100,000 Swine Flu Cases a Day

July 2 (EIRNS)—"Cases are doubling every week, and on this trend we could see over 100,000 [swine flu] cases per day by the end of August," British Health Secretary Andy Burnham told the House of Commons today.

Burnham had earlier covered up the spread of the new flu in Britain, and enraged experts in the World Health Organization and elsewhere for lying about the number of cases and rates of spread.

Burnham's extrapolation of rates has no particular scientific validity; however, it is not impossible that the forecast may prove true.

Fight Against Euthanasia in Britain

June 30 (EIRNS)—The three most important religious leaders in Britain published an open letter on June 29, denouncing a proposed amendment which would, in effect, legalize assisted suicide, by protecting anyone who "helps" arrange an assisted suicide in Switzerland, or other places where it is legal. The Church of England's Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, and Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks jointly signed a letter stating that the terminally ill "need care and protection—not help in committing suicide."

A group of senior members of the House of Lords has also spoken out against the amendment.

The amendment is sponsored by Lord Falconer, who was Tony Blair's Lord Chancellor, and Baroness Jay, a long-time New Labour health reformer.

Euthanasia Supporters on the March in Switzerland

June 30 (EIRNS)—The courts of Zurich have just made two decisions that benefit the euthanasia movement. The district court ruled that the association with the misleading name "Dignitas" can open a euthanasia clinic in a commercial zone just north of the city, since it is in compliance with the commercial laws of Switzerland. And the municipal administration of Zurich has signed a contract with "Exit," another such association, regulating conditions for the practice of euthanasia. Each association has already killed hundreds of human beings, if not more.

Protesting these decisions and reiterating his call for a ban on such euthanasia practices, former Swiss President Pascal Couchepin took to the "10 to 10" primetime news-and-background TV program last night, stating that he would have banned "Exit" right away, rather than signing contracts with it.

French Doctors Invoke Anti-Nazi Resistance

PARIS, June 28 (EIRNS)—The French Association of Emergency Physicians (AMUF) launched a petition drive on June 10, declaring they had "entered into resistance" and would refuse to apply President Nicolas Sarkozy's latest health-care law, which is designed to empower managers as financial dictators of hospitals, in charge of deciding who will be allowed to get medical treatment, and who will be left to die. The call is entirely congruent with Lyndon LaRouche's attacks against U.S. President Obama's Nazi-like health-care "reform" plans. The physicians explicitly invoke the CNR, the French cross-party resistance organization that fought the Nazis.

British Plot To Topple Italian Gov't Exposed

June 30 (EIRNS)—In a television interview on June 28, Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti exposed London-steered requests that the Italian government be replaced with a "technical" Cabinet, because of alleged sex scandals involving Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. "A technical government would last no longer than a yogurt," Tremonti said. The name circulating to lead such a technical government is Financial Stability Board head Mario Draghi, an asset of the City of London.

Tremonti also rejected calls for "pension reform," coming from the same quarters, who are keen on saving government funds to bail out the banks. "Those who think they can steal workers' money to use it for other purposes, should wipe this from their mind," Tremonti said.

Tremonti confirmed that the Chinese Communist Party has invited him to deliver a lecture to its cadre school on the global economic crisis. "I am very proud of this invitation," Tremonti said, adding that the decision to invite him, a politician, and not an economist, is significant.

New Book Highlights Italian-LaRouche Collaboration

July 1 (EIRNS)—A former collaborator of the late Italian entrepreneur and nationalist leader Enrico Mattei, Benito Livigni, started a series of presentations of his new book, I predatori dell'oro nero e della finanza speculativa (The Predators of Black Gold and Speculative Finance), with conferences in Palermo, his native city. The book has three chapters either on or by LaRouche and the LaRouche movement. At the first event in a bookstore, Livigni reported "large curiosity" in the audience, especially on the "destruction of the national economy" as described by LaRouche and EIR. Livigni put his collaboration with LaRouche up front, as well as the New Bretton Woods solution to the global financial-economic collapse.

Mayors Pose as 'Beggars' in Berlin Protest

June 30 (EIRNS)—Mayors of numerous German municipalities in the Wuppertal region protested today in front of the Bundestag building in Berlin, against the effects of the financial crisis, and the inaction of the government. They posed there as "beggars," to illustrate the precarious situation of their municipalities, which are watching their tax-revenue base crumble with the wave of corporate defaults and of unemployment. Municipal treasurers report that they feel they have to beg for a couple of euros, to keep basic urban functions intact.

In their region, which has a population of about 2 million, mayors pointed out that 40 municipalities are so over-indebted that they are basically owned by the banks. It is said that about half the cities in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous, with a population of 17 million, are in a similar situation.

Queen's Demand for More Money Raises Hackles

June 30 (EIRNS)— The British monarchy's demand for increased public funding as the British economy evaporates—it was officially acknowledged today that the economy is shrinking at the fastest rate in 50 years—could lead to a "financial showdown with the Treasury," the Times of London reports today. This is another sign of the dog-eat-dog infighting among those running the British empire today. While the amounts involved are minor in the context of the world financial bubble, certain groups in Britain appear bent on giving the Queen a hard time.

Buckingham Palace is calling for an increase in the funding granted by Parliament for the first time in 20 years, demands which are likely to "pitch the palace into political controversy," said the Times.