Goodbye to national sovereignty?

On its way to the USA

[Reprinted from Issues & Views June 3, 2002]

In Europe, the chickens are coming home to roost in the backyards of those countries whose ministers and parliamentary representatives vigorously worked to bring about a union of European countries. The Brits are gearing up to do battle with other EU members, who insist on enlarged powers for the central government in Brussels. The European Commission president, Romano Prodi, is pushing for what he calls "fundamental reform," which includes a direct EU tax on the citizens of all member states, i.e., a Euro-tax.

Prodi also wants to extend majority voting to tax and social policies, and is urging a harmonization of criminal laws. In London, the World quotes a Commission official saying, "We know these ideas will be sensitive, particularly for the British because they touch so closely on questions of national sovereignty." And a British official declares, "These are ideas whose time has not yet come."

Nick Schulz of Tech Central Station reports on the ambitious aims of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Proposals to be offered at the agency's forthcoming Johannesburg Summit include "reducing the excessive consumption of the more affluent." After citing similar wish-fantasies by UNEP bureaucrats, Schulz describes UN mandates designed to force member states to comply with multilateral environmental agreements.

"It boils down to one thing," writes Schulz, "ceding American sovereignty to the UN and other regulatory bodies." Although he believes there is little chance of such an eventuality, he concludes, "There is, indeed, a network of aggressive, well-funded and passionate elites seeking to impose a global regulatory regime. It's not fantasy to say so--all you need to do is read the UN's literature. They may or may not succeed. But no one can say we didn't see it coming."

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