WATER ABLAZE - Patagonia Sin Represas

the benefit of all citizens In any case, agreements made by sovereign
states with public welfare in mind do not require ostentatious, oversized
buildings in Brussels and Strasbourg or administrative machinery
composed of highly-paid bureaucrats and politicians or institutions with
legislative powers. Today’s EU is guided less by the ideals of freedom,
equality and fraternity and more by elites from the world of politics
and business who have joined forces to carry out their predatory raids.
Exactly who EU bureaucracy is meant to serve can best be illustrated
by the EU constitutional treaty, also known as the Lisbon Treaty or EU
Reform Treaty, which is several hundred pages long and deals with basic
economic conditions and plans for possible military action.
Due to opposition in various countries, the ratification of the EU
constitution has taken a long time to complete. Within the framework
of the German EU presidency, Chancellor Angela Merkel accomplished
something which can only be described as a real stroke of genius. On
March 25, 2007 – the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of
Rome – the “Berlin Declaration” was issued. In an attempt to close the
legitimisation gap and to ward off accusations of despotism, Merkel
described in a somewhat ornate manner the blessings bestowed by the
EU, omitting to mention, however, that the heads of state had already
agreed in Berlin to resume their task of ratifying the controversial EU
constitutional treaty, which many had hoped would be abandoned.
This fact only became apparent after the meeting in Brussels on June
23, 2007, when the heads of state decided to give the treaty a superficial
face-lift before ratifying it.
In the end, those in power simply rode roughshod over the last
remnants of resistance put up by the citizens of individual states. When
the people of France, for example, voted “No” in a referendum, the
government simply amended legislation to render this decision null
and void. The “No” of the Irish was likewise brushed aside and the
nation badgered into voting “Yes” in a referendum rerun in October
2009. (German citizens were not even given the opportunity to voice
their opinion in the first place …) On November 3, 2009, the last EUcritical
head of state, President Václav Klaus of the Czech Republic,
finally buckled under to pressure and signed the “Reform Treaty”.
165