Nikitas wrote:VP asked:
"Please provide an example, everyone appears to be just making sweeping statements. There will be cases where the EU will have to accept derrogations or transition periods."
OK let us take a mundane and concrete example, the management of garbage. Here in Greece some communities are notoriously slow in implementing EU regulations regarding the burial of garbage. The result is a fine amounting to several hundred thousand Euros per day. One such rebel community is Kouroupitos in Hania in Crete, you can look it up.
The fine is paid by the NATION not the community causing the problem. So let us put this in context of BBF, where one community decides to veto an EU regulation and the fine is levied on the whole nation, ie both communities in our case, then what?
It cannot happen is the usual response. If it can happen in a centralised unitary state like Greece and others in the EU it can happen in Cyprus. We might need a local EU compliance arbitration office to determine which community is responsible for which infractions and pass the fines along.
Then there is the envirionmental bit. Holland had refused to commit certain areas as bird protection areas under EU 409/79 Directive. It was taken to the EU court by its own nationals, and the court found that it had no discretion as to which areas it would devote to environmental protection. If an area fulfilled the criteria it was bound to be so declared, and Holland was fined.
Can you hear the clamour: it is our country, we do what we want, etc etc that will reverberate after such a decision?
You do not need to jump to high end constitutional stuff and derogations from the basics. The EU usually gets you on the little things. Just think, 80 per cent of legislation passing in EU nations originates in Brussels. Are you ready to deal with this reality? The GCs are, and are moving along just fine, but they eliminated their nationalist complexes long ago. I wonder about the TCs.
Now Nikitas we TCs never agreed to joining the EU, the GCs took this step not because they needed all this red tape and beaurocracy but because they wanted the weight of the EU behind which they later found was all hot air, 10 years is enough time to see this. But lets just say arguements sake we looked positively the points will have to be adhered to after transitional periods and funding to raise the standard to those expected by the EU. If after this adaptation period the North state does not abide by the rules then any fines should be directed at the state in question, I and I am sure many TCs have no problems with this, the South state should not pay for our incompetencies of running the North state and the same should go for the South state.
Its the major issues such as governance, residency, voting, security, trade, international relations and consititutional amendments plus adherence that are more important, now do you understand my concerns?
