European Communist Commision

[germanos]

Originally posted by Spiffor

almost all cases.

'nuff said.

I'm not going to approve of a constitution that does install a parliament with less then full powers. It's a step back to the 18th century. We'll have some monarch who'll have the parliament as a fig leave.

edit: perhaps the 'new' parliament would be a smaller fig leave then the current one, but even a tiny fig leave is still a fundamental flaw.

[Adalbertus]

Institutional issues are IMO the biggest problem of the constitution. The commission still has too much legislative power and still is non-democratic (in the sense that the outcome of elections has nearly no influence on the composition of the commission).

Abolish the Commission, reduce it to purely executive tasks or make it democratic. I really want a European Constitution, but I want to have done it well.

[germanos]

Originally posted by Adalbertus
I really want a European Constitution, but I want to have done it well.

So do I.
Untill then:

[Pekka]

germanos, at least you might get to vote on it. We don't. We don't even get to vote it. We don't get to even see what is in the constitution.

[germanos]

It's been a unique event in Dutch politics. Our constitution doesn't allow for referenda. In a whim parliament decided to hold a popular vote and commited themselves voluntarily to let it be 'binding'.

I'm afraid our parliament will not let it happen again

We recently had elections and anything EU was avoided like the plague. This is a very bad thing, as obviously EU matters will require a lot of attention from the next government.

Your Finish example is rather the norm then the exception. I think in only four countries there have been referenda (F, NL, E, P?).

edit: checking the EU site it's a bit more then those four. A quick scan shows that only F, P, CZ and DK have genuine referenda and roughly half of the rest have 'consultive' referenda like we had (not sure what the respective parliaments will do with the outcome). The other half is by parliament only.
Except for Spain, the only countries to have ratified are the ones who do not hold a referendum

[Pekka]

Yeah. It's funny how this is a thing that is been superimposed on a people of appx 300 million. I think we'd at least get to vote, or get a note what this thing is all about.

If a constitution should be installed, it should be agreed upon. If a constitution should be installed, it should be followed. If not, then it carries 0 value and it's not worth the trouble writing it down anyway.

Practicality and pragmatism is lost on EU.

[Pekka]

Make no mistake, we're building the biggest system of bureocracy in the world and history. Somehow I should be praising it. It is the exact opposite of what I think is a good idea. Where do I call and have my opinion heard on this matter?

Oh that's right, there is no one to contact. There goes your diversity, it's OK if I agree with you, but when I disagree with you, you're **** out of luck.

This will be the most expensive system, and it gets the LEAST amount of bang for your buck. This will be a big ****ing waste of money. Any kind of conflict resolution will be so difficult to handle, that people just won't bother with it. Bureocratic wet dream that is. It's like going to court against a big entity, that has done you wrong. What are you going to do? OTOH the ideal is that you are equal, but yeah, that's not how it goes now is it?

All we will do is set up new hidden trade barriers, trying to dominate the market via protection of our own consumer market, trying to impose extra-territorial rulings and standards, and we claim that's because 'it'll be better for everyone in the world'. That's just a big pile of crap. It's like stabbing someone in the eye and saying 'this is for your own good'.

[germanos]

BTW, that EU page appears hopelessly outdated . What is the status of Finland Pekka? Finland shows up as undecided.

[MarkG]

Originally posted by germanos
I think in general that your phone will connect with the carrier that has a deal with your home carrier.

my home carrier doesnt have a single deal. for example i can connect to O2 or T-mobile in the netherlands...

The good thing about the welcome message is that at least you get a hint you're on another network and may not be paying your regular fare.

on windows mobile an icon is displayed at all times next to the signal icon showing that you're on roaming

But if any network in the area would start spewing out their fares, would that not be spam?

it could be included in the welcome message or a message when you change networks.