EU Review & Call to Prayer
(EURCP) – Constitution
Approved
(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”
2Chronicles 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.”
__________________________________________________________________________________
Other
language EU News http://www.euractiv.com/ [fr][de]
NEWS
European Union Adopts First
Constitution [AP] [with detail voting system from euobserver]
Irish
presidency presents fresh proposals on Council voting [euractiv]
Constitution
to extend ECJ's power to foreign policy and
fundamental rights [euractiv]
Winners and Losers under
Various Dual-Majority Voting Rules for the EU’s
Council of Ministers [euractiv]
Reuters
report <http://www.reuters.com/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5461542>
Euobserver report < http://euobserver.com/?aid=16671&rk=1>
***************
European Union Adopts First Constitution
By ED JOHNSON
.c The Associated Press
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBKMOQXMVD.html
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - European Union leaders agreed Friday on the first constitution for
the reunited continent, spelling out the voting system and nations' rights for
the bloc's 25 members but keeping out any reference to God, officials said.
"It is a great achievement for
Leaders adopted the constitution about an hour after
receiving the final translated text. They then toasted the historic charter
with champagne. "For
Leaders had hoped for a deal Friday to boost the EU's credibility in the eyes of a skeptical public, a week
after an electoral drubbing and six months after their last attempt collapsed
in acrimony over voting rules and other issues. "Better late than
never," French President Jacques
Chirac said. "Thanks to this new treaty, we will have a more efficient
The constitution aims to streamline the EU's complex institutions and boost its image on the world stage by creating an EU foreign minister. Fearing gridlock in the expanded club, the document also aims to curb areas where individual countries can veto decisions.
The final text
resolves one of the most bitter disputes - the voting
system - by requiring that a measure can only pass if approved by at least 15
countries representing 65 percent of the bloc's 455 million people. A measure
could only be blocked if vetoed by at least four countries with 35 percent of
the population - another safeguard to prevent the biggest countries from
running roughshod over the rest.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose country was among those fighting hardest for the interests of smaller countries, said he was satisfied with the compromise.
Britain also was
satisfied that it preserved its veto over taxation, defense and foreign policy
and gained guarantees that a sweeping charter on fundamental rights would not
allow European courts to challenge British labor laws, which are more
restrictive than those elsewhere on the continent.
All 25 EU member
states must formally ratify the treaty within two years before it can take
effect. Several governments, including Blair's, are planning a referendum.
Blair must overcome claims by treaty opponents that the document will erode
Outgoing European Parliament President Pat Cox, who is Irish, also had high hopes. "If we can agree it, we can sell it," he said. Leaders remained deadlocked, however, over who should become the EU's new chief executive, illustrating some of the differing conceptions on what the EU is and where it should be going.
While some see the union primarily as a trading bloc with
limited cooperation in other areas, federalists, notably France and
The early
contenders for the post of European Commission president, Belgian Prime
Minister Guy Verhofstadt and Luxembourg Prime
Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, belong in the latter
camp. At the height of tensions over the
Despite last-minute
lobbying from Pope John Paul II, a reference to Europe's Christian traditions
did not make it into the text - something Spain, Poland and several other
countries sought, several diplomats said. "At a moment when a new order is
being born in old
France and others
say this would violate the principle of separation of church and state.
Instead, the constitution's preamble says
Detail of voting system http://ue.eu.int/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/misc/81109.pdf
PRAY that Christian
people will gain positions of responsibility and protect the their fellow Europeans
from opportunities for non-Christian exploitation
.
*****************
By George Jones and Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in
(Filed:
LINK http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/06/19/weu19.xml
European
leaders signed the EU's first constitution last night
after an acrimonious summit exposed deep divisions between Britain,
It sealed the
union of 25 countries and 450 million citizens, extending across the old Iron
Curtain into former communist eastern Europe. Mr Blair, weary but relieved, said after 12 hours of
negotiations in
The Prime Minister said he had won all his key demands and
retained the right of veto on tax, foreign policy, social security and the rebate
from the EU budget. The constitution
was a "great success for
He was immediately contradicted by Mr Chirac who has been pressing for closer European integration and who had earlier clashed sharply with him. Mr Blair rebuked Mr Chirac and Gerhard Schröder, the German chancellor, for treating the EU as if it were their exclusive inner circle. His spokesman said: "There are no first class and second class citizens. We are all equal members of the European community."
**SEE LINK ABOVE FOR BALANCE OF ARTICLE
*****************
Irish presidency presents fresh proposals on Council
voting
Date:
http://www.euractiv.com/cgi-bin/cgint.exe/1547777-148?204&OIDN=1507891&-tt=fu
In short:
Ahead of the final working sessions of the IGC mandated to agree the EU's first Constitution, the Irish Presidency presented new proposals to break the deadlock on qualified majority voting.
Brief news:
A paper by the Irish Presidency (CIG 83/04) makes new
proposals on qualified majority voting in the event that the Council does not
act on the proposal by the Commission (or the EU Minister for Foreign Affairs).
This happens notably in the fields of justice and home affairs, common foreign
and security policy, economic and monetary policy and in a possible future case
of suspension or withdrawal of a
The general
definition of qualified majority voting would be set at 55 per cent of Member
States comprising at least 65 per cent of the EU's
population, in line with the Presidency's previous paper. The Presidency's paper
defines the 'blocking minority' as four negative votes cast by Member States.
The document makes a special mention of areas where only some Council members have the right to vote (eg. eurozone or enhanced co-operation). In such cases, the same percentages would apply (depending on the policy area) but only to the Member States with voting rights.
On the composition
of the European Parliament, the new paper proposes capping the overall number
of MEPs at 750, setting the minimum threshold of MEPs at six and the maximum number of members at 96 per
The IGC takes centre stage during the afternoon on 18 June. EU leaders will try to agree on a candidate for the post of Commission president afterwards. President of the European Parliament Pat Cox has told journalists that the Commission President could theoretically be elected at a later stage but his nomination would need to take place prior to the first meeting of the new Parliament. MEPs are scheduled to vote on the new Commission President on 21 July. Cox declined to comment on his own candidacy.
***************
Constitution to extend ECJ's
power to foreign policy and fundamental rights
Date:
http://www.euractiv.com/cgi-bin/cgint.exe/1?204&OIDN=1507887&-tt=
In short:
If the Constitution is adopted, the President of the
European Court of Justice says it will rule on foreign policy and fundamental
rights. Meanwhile, the
Brief news:
Vassilios Skouris,
President of the European Court of Justice told the Financial Times that the
draft Constitution, which EU leaders hope to approve on 18 June, "will
bring new areas and new subjects under the court's jurisdiction", such as
foreign policy and the charter of fundamental rights. It would
make the charter, a summary of basic European values endorsed as a political
declaration by EU leaders at a summit in 2000, legally binding. The charter
could have an impact on national industrial relations laws. The
PRAY that a spirit of democracy and equality will off-set
opportunities for special interests that may exist in this document.
*****************
Winners and Losers under Various Dual-Majority Voting
Rules for the EU’s Council of Ministers
http://www.euractiv.com/cgi-bin/cgint.exe/1547777-148?714&1015=2&1014=ceps136
Date:
In short:
This policy brief by CEPS studies the consequences of voting system reform through quantitative estimates of the decision-making efficiency and distributions of power for the various schemes proposed. [SEE LINK]
Source: Centre for European Policy Studies Author: Richard Baldwin and Mika Widgrén
PRAY for the right
persons to be elected to positions of great responsibility
******************
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Norma Jenson Davis) is conducting this multi-denominational ministry under the
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