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... GLOBAL NEWS ... NEWS THE AMSTERDAM TREATY & BRITAIN'S LOSS OF SOVEREIGNTY By Daniel Hannan hen historians yet unborn and unbegot try to pinpoint the moment at which British sovereignty finally passed from Westminster, they are likely to choose 11.25 pm on 17 December 1997. That was when the Labour Government put through the Bill that incorporated the Amsterdam Treaty into British law. The Amsterdam Treaty? Are there not more obvious watersheds? What about Maastricht, or the Single European Act, or even the original European Communities Act of 1972? All these were important. But Amsterdam has a better legal claim than any of them. Human Rights Take, first, Article F(1). This is the clause that allows a state to have its voting rights, and any other rights derived from European Union (EU) membership, taken away by its fellow governments. In theory, this happens when the other governments judge that it is breaching certain vaguely defined human rights. In practice, it can be invoked whenever a single country is blocking a measure that all the others want. Human rights violations can always be trumped up if the political will is there. A country could be found guilty of vio- lating the human right of its nationals to a minimum wage, or denying the human right of its homosexual citizens to serve in the Armed Forces. The significance of this Article is that, for the first time, it allows the EU to suspend the treaty rights of a signatory while holding it to its obligations. There is no precedent for such a measure either in diplomacy or in law. Once the European treaties lose their con- tractual character, they cease to be a set of agreements among states and become, instead, a federal constitution. European Police Force Or take the new powers granted to Europol. Europol was set up to help national police forces co-ordinate their fight against international crime, rather like a regional branch of Interpol. Europol was envisaged as a superior federal force dealing with serious crimes—a kind of European FBI. Amsterdam allows Europol personnel to take part in national polic- ing operations. At a stroke, they are transformed from bureaucrats into policemen. This is especially significant given that Europol employees are immune to prosecution in national courts. Federal Institutions Or consider the changes made to the EU's institutional structure. These follow a con- sciously federalist plan which envisages the Commission as Europe's cabinet, the Court of Justice as its supreme court, the Parliament as its principal legislature and the Council of Ministers as a kind of Upper House or Bundesrat representing the member states. Accordingly, the President of the Commission is given the power to choose his own com- missioners, subject to approval by the European Parliament, exactly as national govern- ments are drawn up, subject to being able to command a parliamentary majority. Member states consequently lose the exclusive right to nominate their own commissioners. A New Legal Order But the key change, the one to which future historians will point, is tucked innocuously into the Protocol on Subsidiarity. There, in paragraph 2, is a reference to the sanctity of "the principles developed by the Court of Justice regarding the relationship between nation- al and community law". What this clause refers to is the doctrine developed by the European Court of Justice that its own rulings have precedence, not just over national laws but even over the constitution- al or basic laws of the member states. The European Court has never accepted the stance of the national supreme courts. It believes that its jurisdiction comes directly from the European treaties which, it holds, have created a new legal order superior to national constitutions. According to the European Court's view, it is now Europe's supreme court, since its authority does not derive from the member states but from the treaties. Once the Amsterdam Treaty comes into force, this extraordinary interpretation will have legal validity. Although Denmark and Ireland are holding referendums on the Treaty, the Labour Government has ruled out a British plebiscite, arguing that it already has a mandate. Perhaps ministers have forgotten that the Amsterdam Summit did not take place until six weeks after the general election. The House of Lords is now the last obstacle to ratifying the Treaty. If peers were to reject it or demand a British referendum first, our unborn histo- rians may yet conclude that the UK saw out the millennium as a sovereign state. (Source: Eurofacts, 6 February 1998; published by June Press Ltd, PO Box 9984, London W12 8WZ, UK, telephone/fax +44 (0)181 7461206) FDA THREATENS TO BURN COOKBOOKS AND LITERATURE ON STEVIA SWEETENER n an unprecedented move, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials threatened legal action against Texas-based Stevita Co., importers of the sweet-tasting herbal dietary supplement, stevia, for dis- tributing books and literature about their product. On 19 May, FDA Compliance Officer James R. Lahar faxed a letter to Stevita Co., addressing the destruction of 2,500 books he deemed "offending" at a cost to the company well in excess of US$10,000. The letter threatens that investigators will conduct a current inventory and "wit- ness the destruction of the cookbooks, liter- ature and other publications for the purpose of verifying compliance" upon visiting Stevita Co. for a fourth time this year. One of three books in question is The Stevia Story: A Tale of Incredible Sweetness and Intrigue, by Linda Bonvie, Bill Bonvie and Donna Gates (BED Publications Co., Atlanta, GA, USA, 1997; telephone 1800-4STEVIA). Ironically, chapter four of the book the FDA wants to destroy is titled: "What's wrong with the FDA?" An attempt to strong-arm critics into silence, similar to book burnings in Nazi Germany? The FDA ordered the action because the books contain general information that include history, usages and scientific stud- ies regarding stevia. Currently, federal law requires that stevia herbal products can only be marketed as dietary supplements without any mention of having sweetening power. Stevia is growing in popularity as a safer alternative to sugar. It can be obtained from many local herbalists and is easily grown in many countries. (Source: www.sightings.com) ED McCABE CAMPAIGN here is a growing campaign to have Ed McCabe, noted author and lecturer on oxygen therapies, released from prison. (See Global News, NEXUS 5/04.) The latest report is Ed has been moved from one prison to another, kept shackled (hand and foot) in solitary confinement, and strip-searched up to five times per day. People wishing to assist with the cam- paign are asked to send a Notice of Complaint, which can be found on the net at . NEXUS <9 AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 1998