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Nederlander zegt overtuigend 'nee' tegen Europese grondwet

"(Novum) - Nederland heeft woensdag een duidelijk 'nee' laten horen op de vraag of de Europese grondwet moet worden ingevoerd. Rond middernacht waren bijna alle stemmen gesteld. Daaruit bleek dat 61,6 procent van de kiezers de komst van de grondwet verwerpt, terwijl 38,4 procent voorstander is. De opkomst bedroeg 62,8 procent."

What the referenda are showing is a clear lack of trust in the "European Project".

The big question, however, is whether there will be any attempt to draw in the European Institutions and reduce their powers.

One of the things I have always seen as an objective would be to be much more restrictive about the "competancies" of the European Union. There needs to be a mechanism to determine subsidiarity which has a bias against centralisation rather than a bias for centralisation.

Clearly anyone working in the EU institutions will be more positively inclined towards them.

One suggestion I have proposed is that a directive is not issued unless

a) There is no opposition .... or
b) There is a clear and defined demand for the resolution of a defined problem

It is clear that the Single European Act of 1987 was required and that an element of majoritarian and qualified majoritarian voting is needed. Moving emphasis onto the European Parliament for determining decisions is helpful. However, the competancy of the European Union needs to be restricted. One restriction that works is the requirement for unanimity in the European Council. However, a wider restriction is really needed.

The key point is that the European Parliament is not the appropriate body to decide on matters of subsidiarity.

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