Viviane Reding, the European Commission’s vice-president, has set out a plan for the EU to become the highest judicial authority safeguarding independent courts and “fundamental rights”.
Her blueprint includes a vision of the European Commission as a “quasi-judicial authority” alongside a powerful EU “justice minister” and powers for Europe’s courts to impose rulings.
They won’t be very independent once they are ‘protected’ by the EU.
Fuck off x10,000.
The Left will love this. Expect the Guardian to gush fulsomely over this.
The left loves fascism at the same time as campaigning valiantly against fascism. Sigmund Freud had a word for seeing one’s own worst faults in others: he called it “projection”.
I thought we already had the EHRC?
Luke, the European Convention on Human Rights comes from a different organisation, the Council of Europe (although a country must sign the Convention to become a member of the EU). The superior judicial authority on Convention matters is the European Court of Human Rights (putting arguments about sovereignty, parliamentary supremacy etc aside for the sake of simplicity). The ultimate sanction is deployed by the Council of Ministers.
Rob
we all know
bad state control = Fascism
good state control = Socialism
keep up with the programme!
UKL,
Yes. Why then does the EU commission need to become the self- appointed guardian of our human rights?
@ Luke
Because it will give them Murphy-like power to ignore arguments against decisions that they have got wrong.
I am (at least sometimes) a reasonable guy and if no 1 son convinces me I got it wrong I’ll admit that and change my mind. I am sure that you would too. But when did you last meet a bureaucrat who admitted he/she had got it wrong even in the face of overwhelming evidence (like quoting the precise words of the document he/she is pretending to use in support of his/her claim)?
Or “how far can you throw the European Commission?”
Luke,
Skimming the speech, if you are a federalist there is nothing offensive about the proposals. And she isn’t limiting herself to Convention rights or the kinds of rights in the Convention – it’s a different set of rights and a different organisation. Here, the Commission is the superior authority because that is where it appears in the organisational chart.
(I have philosophical objections; I would prefer power to be as ‘near’ the people as possible / within the same kind of culture, which today means no to her proposals; I’m not a federalist.)
@ ukliberty
Maybe you are stronger than I but just how far can *you* throw the European Commission?