Yes, it is true. I am going to go and sign the treaty for the European Constitution on behalf of Belgium.
Now you might well ask yourself, why would Perry de Havilland have the right to sign the EU Treaty (do not worry, I intend to ‘accidently’ tip the ink pot over the foetid thing)? Simple… because clearly anyone can. There are many articles about what El Gordo is going to do and the long running weird protocol spat between Portugal and Belgium over where the treaty must be signed… but that should be academic to Belgium because Belgium still does not have a government, ergo there is no one who can sign on Belgium’s behalf… yet strangely that does not seem to be stopping the former government from doing just that.
If the people who were voted out of office in Belgium months ago can sign the treaty, then why not me too? They have no more right than I do to sign anything on behalf of Belgium. The fact that the Belgian establishment can and have simply banned popular political parties that do not play by the required consensus should indicate that to all intents, Belgium is not a democracy in any meaningful sense. This latest action indicates Belgium is in fact some sort of divine right oligarchy where being a member of the power elite is all the legitimisation you need.
How come Samizdata does not have an “Un-Dirty-Word-Believable” category?
I think it does. It is the category this entry is filed under.
My question is this:
Are they doing it free gratis?
Is the former Belgian government still being paid, and if so, by whom?
Perry, whilst you’re there, why not also dissolve the country? Belgium is an artificial creation. Then some of it would revert to France, meaning the French would owe you one! I guess Holland and Germany would get the rest. The French have always wanted to rule Europe, so the EuroParliament can be given to them.
Now for a hard question! Kosovo, anyone?
I propose that we evacuate the whole land, and pour radioactive waste on top of it, so everyone forgets about it, and gets on with their lives. Everyone loses, so everyone (else) is happy.
Solving the Israel/Palestine problem can be left to someone else, as these countries are not in Europe.
Well done, Perry! (Can you visit Bali, pretend to be Kevin Rudd, and ‘sign’ Kyoto with disappearing ink? Please?)
Well, if Perry can sign the treaty on behalf of Belgium, then I’ll sign on behalf of Boulder. And that’ll make Boulder (or better yet Colorado Springs) part of Europe, which means they won’t be here anymore.
And the best part is, I won’t be shoveling snow in Portugal. Let’s see…de-icing my truck or sitting in some cafe with a bottle of wine…that’s really a difficult decision. MY GOD WHAT WILL I DO???
As it appears that Belgium is no longer a democratic state is there a case for them to be expelled from the EU?
Maybe but how can we get the UK expelled form the EU?
Well, we could try being undemocratic. No, wait, that’s not working.
now I know why Douglas Adams described belgium as the worst swear word in the universe!
Perry, that’s brilliant: you should try for a situation where you have no government! Wait, it did not help Belgium…but still worth a shot, no?
Good question Perry, maybe you should goose Angela Merkel?
Eh, she’s not my type… now if Yulia Tymoshenko was going to attend, that would be a different proposition entirely.
If we can’t have a referendum but countries can sign the treaty – especially ones without a government – can we all become individual countries? Well, not me as such but how about my house?
If my house was a “non-governed” country of its own, I could consider the merits of this treaty and sign on behalf of all at “Dunvoting.”
“…Belgium is not a democracy in any meaningful sense.”
I aired the possibility of invading the place years ago.
It would be almost a reward to our soldiers to have the Brits and Americans invade Belgium and impose democracy on the place. It would be way easier than Iraq or Afghanistan. There is beer there. The people probably have some cultural aptitudes for representative government, so it would likely work.
A critic of a science fiction book once commented that he found most of the setting believable, but couldn’t swallow the idea of Belgium splitting up in the future.
I told my belgian friends, and they all hooted and laughed for quite a while.
I remember when the british representative to the EU parliment told the Belgian representative that “Just because your country is broken doesn’t mean you can break the rest of ours.”
Belgium is such a messed up country. The fact that Brussels headquarters the EU should tell you all you need to know about that organization.
I don’t think France wants Wallonia, nor do the Dutch want Flanders. While Flanders is richer than Wallonia, both would just be drains on the respective receivers, like Wallonia is on Flanders now.
A lot of Flemish people want Flanders to be independent Bobbo – they do not want to be part of Holland. They are not too fond of the E.U. either.
The basic point is as Perry’s say it is. The government of Belgium lost the election more than six months ago – but it is still there being paid by the taxpayers.
And when they blatently break the Constitution of Belgium by signing the E.U. Constitution – treaty, their only defence is “the King said we could”.
The King has no constituional power to do that. Is this the final defence of the E.U. – the divine right of Kings?
On the Ukraine – well the lady Perry mentions seems to be allied with the President again.
I rather like the Ukraine. The economic policy may be very bad (where is this not true?), but at least they have official televised events marking the murder of millions of people by the Marxists.
And they react to Putin’s contract breaking on oil and gas (shoving the price up) by voting for the people Putin does not like – a very un “European” way of reacting.
The government of the Ukraine, but “we would freeze than be slaves” is not the sort of thinking that would be welcome there.
Of course Putin’s people botched the murder of the President of the Ukraine during the last election campaign for that office.
Although the murder effort did leave the new President of the Ukraine looking rather less attractive than the Prime Minister that Perry draws attention to.
The failed murder effort may have been what made Putin decide to move away from ordinary chemical poisons and turn to radioactive ones instead.
The above should read:
The government of the Ukraine may want to join the E.U., but “we would rather freeze than be slaves” is not the sort of thinking that is welcome within it.