Friday, June 13, 2008

Let's try Democracy in Europe now...

Now that the Irish have said NO to the Lisbon constitutional treaty, we need to start again on the European constitution.

The people are the ultimate source of power.
The constitution is the way power is structured at European level.
Therefore the people need to create the constitution that they want.

What has happened so far is that the European civil service and national ministers have created an abstruse legal document which has been read by only an insignificant percentage of the people.

I suggest that one way forward is to put a multiple choice referendum document to the people with questions along these lines:

Do you want Europe to create a sustainable economic system?
Ditto high human rights standards?
Ditto President with the following powers: a,b,c &c
Ditto foreign Minister?
Ditto army with the following remit...a,b,c &c?
Ditto Parliament with more power than at present?
&c

Obviously the way the questions are structured will be important and influential, but it is not beyond the wit of person to agree on a fair set of questions.

From the answers, a legal document could be drawn up, and re-presented to the people. I suggest it would have a greater chance of ratification, and would create a more democratic Europe.

What do people think?

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