EUReview & Call to Prayer (EURCP)

EU Review & Call to Prayer (EURCP) – 21 January 2004

(By Praise & Prayer Ministries International http://www.EUPrayer.com)

The Word

1 Timothy 2: 1,2 "Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence." [Your prayers implement God’s Word]

John 15: 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who ABIDES in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 7. If you ABIDE in Me, and My Words ABIDE in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you”

2 Chronicles 7:14 ” if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

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21 January 2004, Praise & Prayer Ministries International – Hugh E. and Norma Jenson Davis

INDEX

1. A FAILURE FOR THE WRONG REASONS

2. CONSTITUTION TALKS TO RESUME

3. UK, GERMANY AND FRANCE SEEK CLOSER TIES

4. COMMISSION SAYS FRANCE, GERMANY, AND BELGIUM HAVE FAILED TO ADOPT LAWS

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[EUobs Comment] A [EU Constitution] failure for all the wrong reasons

06.01.2004 - 17:19 CET

http://euobs.com/index.phtml?sid=7&aid=14003

[EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - It is perhaps fitting that the European Union's most important developments tend to occur when no one is paying attention. The latest such development was the draft EU constitution; the distraction was Iraq. The document's creation in the spring was overshadowed by the onset of war, and its tentative dismissal came days ago, in the hours following Saddam Hussein's capture.

EUobserver.com Editor's office, 203, Rue Belliard, bté 5 B-1040 Brussels, Belgium

EUobserver.com is an independent website published by EUobserver.com ASBL, a non-profit association registered under Belgian law working in cooperation withthe Group for a Europe of Democracies and Diversities in the European Parliament. Design and programming are protected by copyright ]

The background to the [EU draft Constitution failure] flap is simple.

In December 2000, in anticipation of the EU's enlargement from 15 to 25 members, the existing and future member states agreed to reallocate national votes on the Council of Ministers, the EU's legislative body. While the agreement continued the tradition of granting disproportionate representation to the smaller member states, the degree of disproportion was substantially increased. Most notably, whereas Germany received 29 Council votes, Spain and Poland, each with half of Germany's population, received 27 votes apiece.

The draft Constitution introduced this past summer proposed a further reallocation of Council votes. The system it envisioned - which sought to both simplify the voting process and reduce the imbalance in representation - provided that legislation would pass with a majority of member states representing at least 60 percent of the Union's population. Not surprisingly, Spain and Poland objected to the provision. Also not surprisingly, France and Germany insisted on it (or a version of it). Ultimately, the parties' failure to negotiate a compromise to this single issue has put the entire constitutional project on hold.

National interests

It was no doubt an inauspicious day for the integrationists. Yet the most significant aspect of the member states' inability to finalize the Constitution is not the inability itself, but what it says about the European project generally. To be sure, there were so many better reasons to reject this document, from its obscene length to its impenetrable language to its woeful democratic credentials. Even putting stylistic criticism aside, there was plenty of substance for the parties to debate. The document contains grand designs for EU institutions, ambitious plans for further policy harmonization, and expansive descriptions of citizens' rights.

Yet these majestic visions were not what occupied the member states. In fact, what spoiled the summit had nothing at all to do with European institutions or European interests. On the contrary, the member states' quarrel over the proposed vote allocation - and thus their failure to approve the entire constitutional text - had only to do with cold calculations of national interest and the relative influence of sovereign member states.

The accidental, but highly fortuitous, conclusion that one should draw from

all of this is that the EU is just not ready for a Constitution, not in the real sense of the term. Like the year's other disagreements over the war in Iraq, the collapse of Union fiscal policy rules, and the future of European defence, this dispute shows that Europeans still think of themselves primarily, and in many cases exclusively, as members of nation-states.

Lessons to be learned

The Constitution's drafters would have one think that there is a single European identity, but that is based on ideals, not evidence. Beyond the gains of a common market and harmonization in areas such as public health and environmental policy, the idea that there are genuine "European" interests is highly debatable. Proponents of integration scold the member states for putting national welfare above that of the Union, but there is little proof that Europeans want what distant bureaucrats in Brussels think they need, such as a common foreign policy, a single criminal law, and harmonized tax and social security policies. Indeed, recent polling shows that popular support for, and identification with, the EU is at near-historic lows.

If Europe is not careful, it may actually learn a great deal from what many now see as a disappointment. It could learn that, in many of the policy areas it is striving to embrace, there is no true sense of shared effort. It could learn that unity and common interest cannot be imposed from above by bureaucrats, but must grow organically from the people below. Finally, it could learn the painful truth that it is simply not mature enough to have its own interests, that it is still a collection of disparate identities and differing dreams.

Written by Jonathan Kallmer

The writer practices international litigation and arbitration at the Washington, DC law firm of Hogan & Hartson L.L.P. and writes frequently on the European Union and international affairs

EUobserver.com Editor's office, 203, Rue Belliard, bté 5 B-1040 Brussels, Belgium

PRAY that the official EU participants and the European national citizens recognise the real requirements of greater European unity as being more than imposed order by political idealists. This commentary should assist you in your prayers. Ask God and yourself is there a single European culture? Also ask what would have to happen to make it so?

[EURCP comment] Where are the European “people” spiritually? What are the best characteristics of national “maturity”. Unity must be more than imposed order. Where is unity without spiritual harmony and Gods blessing?]

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Constitution talks to restart after summit debacle

Brian Cowen - "Failure is not an option. Whether it be in this Presidency or later, we must succeed"

21.01.2004 - 08:55 CET Article >> http://euobs.com/?aid=14161&rk=1

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU foreign ministers will return to the negotiating table next Monday (26 January) to discuss the EU Constitution, following the collapse of talks at a Summit last month.

Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen told deputies in the European Parliament on Tuesday (20 January) that "there will be no papers and I do not intend to draw any conclusions. But it will be an important signal that the work continues". "It will give us an opportunity to exchange views about the best way to proceed", he continued.

Although the meeting is an important step by the Irish to increase the pressure for a deal on the Constitution, Dublin is as keen as ever to play down expectations and adopt a step-by-step approach

[No illusions] "We are under no illusions about the complexity of our task. The issues to be resolved may be few in number but they are highly sensitive and difficult. Certainly last month there were very different perspectives on how to resolve them", said Mr Cowen. "Ireland can encourage progress, we can build mutual understanding, we can try to identify common ground. However, we cannot compel agreement, in the absence of the shared political will to achieve it".

So far, that political will has - at least publicly - not been apparent. A series of meetings recently involving France, Germany and Poland - the main contributors to the breakdown of the talks - have ended in failure.

The crucial issue of vote weighting, which will determine the balance of power in a future EU, remains the sticking point. In December, the issue pitted Germany - which stands to gain most from the new system - against Poland and Spain which will lose the most.

March report

The foreign ministers’ approach to the talks next week (26 January) will help feed into the overall report that Ireland is planning to present to EU leaders in March on the feasibility of agreeing the Constitution. Meanwhile, Dublin will in parallel continue backroom talks with governments to test the water. Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern will meet Spanish Premier José Maria Aznar on Monday.

A positive signal from Mr Aznar, who is due to step down as prime minister in March, would be a crucial move towards breaking the deadlock in the talks.

Written by Honor Mahony

PRAY for a mix of Godly wisdom and human realism in these new negotiations. Let it be “what God has joined together”

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UK, Germany and France seek closer ties -

21.01.2004

The UK, France and Germany are planning to hold high level regular meetings much more often, as they believe that in an enlarged EU, important issues could be best discussed among a smaller group of nations.

Article >> http://euobs.com/?aid=14164&rk=1

PRAY for God’s guidance to be felt in such meetings through any participating Christians

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“A blunt appraisal for EU's laggards” IHT

Commission says France, Germany, and Belgium have failed to adopt laws. France, Germany and Belgium, the strongest supporters of faster European integration, are in fact the leading laggards when it comes to implementing European Union laws, the European Commission said Monday.

IHT

Thomas Fuller/IHT Tuesday, January 13, 2004 http://www.iht.com/articles/124706.html

Commission says France, Germany, and Belgium have failed to adopt laws

PARIS France, Germany and Belgium, the strongest supporters of faster European integration, are in fact the leading laggards when it comes to implementing European Union laws, the European Commission said Monday.

Speaking with uncharacteristic bluntness, officials from the Union's head office said they wanted to "name and shame" the countries that consistently failed to adopt the laws that form the foundations of the single market.

"France and Germany are where you'd almost expect them to be," Gerard de Graaf, a top official at the commission's internal market department said sarcastically at a news conference in Brussels. "It's sad to say, but they're always at the bottom of the queue." Belgium, he added, is "sliding back - it's up the creek and it's stopped paddling."

The criticism was based on a survey conducted by the commission of how well member countries transposed European laws into their national legal codes. The sharp comments on Monday raised already heightened tension between the commission - 20,000 bureaucrats who administer the day-to-day working of the European Union - and two of the largest countries in the Union.

Commission officials already accuse Berlin and Paris of breaking EU laws when they suspended the budget rules that underpin the euro.

The commission will decide on Tuesday whether to take the Union's 15 governments to court over the suspension, a move that looks increasingly likely.

De Graaf, the commission official, had harsh words for the French and German governments.

He told them to put their "money where your mouth is." He ridiculed the idea floated by French and German leaders for a two-speed Europe led by a "vanguard" of more federally minded governments. He said ironically that there was already a two-speed Europe: efficient governments like Britain and Denmark and laggards like France and Germany. Continued http://www.iht.com/articles/124706.html

PRAY for the fair application and support of EU policies by and for all participating nations

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Pnpmi (Praise & Prayer Ministries International - Hugh & Norma Jenson Davis) is conducting this multi-denominational ministry under the mission program of the Assemblies of God Western Europe office outside of Brussels, Belgium. The mailing address there is: EMC/EURCP (Gerald Branum.) 45 Chaussee de Waterloo, 1640 Rhode Saint Genese, BELGIUM

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