At the same time, we also need to remember that the Tribulation will herald the ultimate form of "central control", as the antichrist and his partner, the false prophet (as a reminder I refuse to capitalize their titles) will assume complete control over the 10 kings. Therefore while we are watching for the evolution of the EU into the 10 kings phase, we would also expect to see the issue of "central control" increasing as well.
The article below, from the EU Observer, presents a summary of this situation:
Spectre of fresh EU treaty returns to haunt "incomplete" Europe
This entire article is really worth reading, but below are the most germane comments:
It took nearly a decade of squabbling amongst EU states, a series of referendum disasters and a last-minute game of high-stakes brinksmanship from a stubborn Czech president, but the bloc finally managed to radically refashion the way it worked with the passage of the Lisbon Treaty in 2010.
So exhausted were they by the struggle by the time the soap opera ended, European leaders then swore it would be very long indeed, perhaps a generation, before the EU treaties would be opened again.
As we know, that didn't work out as planned - see below:
On Tuesday, German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble called for the second time in a week for changes to the treaties.
“Strengthening the eurozone's architecture ... may need profound treaty changes,” he wrote in an opinion piece for the Financial Times.
According to populist daily Bild, the finance minister made the argument for a major shift in fiscal policy-making powers to Brussels, a move that would almost certainly necessitate a fresh opening of the treaties holding the bloc together.
This must be done, he said, “even though we know how difficult a treaty change will be.”
The outgoing head of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, for his part on Monday told participants at a Paris conference that the bloc required a European “federal government with a federal finance minister."
With that background, things get even more interesting:
Gerhard Schroeder, the former German chancellor on Sunday said “Countries will have to give up some of their national sovereignty.” His vision involves fiscal powers being given to the commission or a European finance minister under the control of the European Parliament as “the ultimate authority”.
"Give up some of their national sovereignty"?
"Ultimate authority"?
They will most definitely be getting their "ultimate authority" - probably sooner than they think.
“The commission will have to be turned into a government that is controlled, in parliamentary terms, by the European Parliament. That translates into a United States of Europe.”
A newly established think-tank, the Council on the Future of Europe...on Monday issued a manifesto that called not just full fiscal union, but for parallel political union.
Take a look at the bolded segment of the next quote:
“It will be necessary to further lay out a vision of a federation that goes beyond a fiscal and economic mandate to include a common security, energy, climate, immigration and foreign policy as well as develop a common narrative about the future of the union and its place in the world,” the document read.
In addition, we also see more and more centralized control in the works:
“Nation states will need to share certain dimensions of sovereignty to a central European entity that would have the capacity to source revenue at the federal level in order to provide European-wide public goods.”
On Tuesday, responding to the calls for a fresh treaty, the European Commission said that deeper economic integration can happen under the existing treaties, but left the door open for a more radical restructuring of the bloc, should member states feel it is necessary.
“We have taken note of the comments from a number of European leaders. They have been calling for changes to be made to the treaties to reinforce economic governance,” said commission spokesman Olivier Bailly.
And below we see even more calls for a new "treaty":
“It seems there is a growing consensus for treaty change, not just in the last few days or weeks, but this has been widening since the start of the crisis months ago,” he said.
Speaking to EUobserver, Janis Ennanouilidis, a senior policy analyst with the European Policy Centre, a Brussels-based EU specialist think-tank, said that moves in the direction of fiscal union and a new treaty are inevitable.
So what do we see?
Exactly what we would expect to see during the evolution of the EU.
- More centralized control
- Less national sovereignty
- A New "Treaty" which would grant the above
- A "crisis" leading to all of the above.
Once again, we see a situation that is worth watching very closely.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar