Text 29362, 64 rader
Skriven 2012-06-01 14:07:02 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
  Kommentar till text 29349 av Björn Felten (2:203/2)
Ärende: Re: Dutch parliament officially rejects ACTA
====================================================
Björn,
 
BF> Laws without a LEA are fairly toothless. And EU (at least for the time
BF> being) does not have a LEA.
 
Good point, but there is a solution.
 
BF> It's possible that the Belgian constitution allows EU to dictate what
BF> laws you must implement, but I can assure you that the Swedish "Grundlag"
BF> does *not* allow anything to take precedence over it. We are still a
BF> sovereign state that decides what laws we want.
 
As said previously, a Directive "is" law in all EU-countries from the moment it
is issued.
 
Negotiations prior to that include all the member states and it would be highly
unlikely that Sweden would not be consulted and not have a chance to make its
opinion known.
 
As said before, to become a member of the EU a country needs to ratify the
original Treaty of Rome and its follow-up treaties, which the autonomous
country of Sweden has done. So it must live up to that ...
 
I'm now waiting for someone to draw the parallel with P4 in Fidonet.
 
Sweden, of course, cannot be forced to execute a particular directive, but
enforcement tools do exist:
 
* Cancelling of European subsidies (do not think for one moment Sweden
  doesn't get any, because they do).
* Replacing the Swedish commissioner in the European Commission
* Heavy fines (Belgium fond that out in the past)
 
Eventually either the Swedish constitution will be adapted or another way will
be found via political consensus to harmonize whatever needs to be harmonized,
for example 10-year exemptions.
 
An example ... there is the PCB-directive which required the phasing-out of PCB
as a coolant in electrical installations. There was a time-table, and I forgot
what the due date was.
 
Then it transpired in Germany that the Deutsche Bundesbahn (railroad) had just
taken possession of new electric locomotives using PCB as a coolant. It would
have been economically disastrous to get rid of them before their economical
lifespan hgad expired and technically not feasable to modify.
 
Hence Germany got an exemption for electrical locomotives.
 
I think there are hundreds, throusands, such examples where there's a
difference between the political work and the reality in the field.
 
And rest assured, so far there isn't a directive yet against herring in sweet
curry in glas jars. ;-)
 
Nevertheless, Sweden cannot escape these directives and whether you or I have
strong feelings about it, doesn't change the ballgame.
 
Besides ... do you really care that much about your constitution? You, you ....
American! ;)-)
 
 \%/@rd

--- D'Bridge 3.59
 * Origin: Many Glacier / Protect - Preserve - Conserve (2:292/854)