MPs Debate Ratification of Nice Treaty

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MPs Debate Ratification of Nice Treaty

Robin Cook’s Gratuitous and Unfounded Attack on DPRK

Rail Passengers Set to Strike over Poor Services

WFTU Condemns Further Escalation of Aggressive Israeli Attacks on Syria and Lebanon

Demonstration in Support of Palestinian Children in Israeli Prisons

African Leaders Urge US to Stop Interference in Zimbabwe’s Affairs

The Second Reading of the Bill which provides for Britain’s ratification of the Nice Treaty took place on Wednesday in the House of Commons.

The Nice Summit of the EU took place last December, and the Treaty was signed on February 26. Before coming into force, the Treaty has to be ratified by all fifteen EU member states. Whereas this ratification in Ireland required a referendum by virtue of the Republic’s constitution, in Britain, as in the other EU states, ratification is considered a matter for parliament. The European Communities (Amendment) Bill will implement the key decisions of the Nice European Council enshrined in the Nice Treaty. However, if Ireland does not ratify, the treaty will not come into force. Nevertheless, the British government is pressing ahead with its Bill, and is pinning its hopes on a further referendum being held in Ireland with an affirmative result.

Jack Straw, in introducing the debate, betrayed the chauvinism of Britain as a "big power" and his anti-democratic bent as regards international relations.

The Nice Treaty is not necessary in order to pursue the enlargement of the EU, but it is necessary if Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain are to retain a dominant position in the EU. In international relations, it is a democratic demand that all countries, large and small, should have an equal voice. This is particularly so as regards the United Nations. However, when it comes to the EU, Jack Straw had this to say: "Each of the applicant states is smaller than Britain. And as each new small country joined the EU, so relatively would the weight and influence of the larger countries diminish. Eventually countries which together could not muster a majority of the EU’s population could, however, form a majority for the purposes of passing EU legislation. Clearly this would be unacceptable." It is unacceptable for Jack Straw and the British government, and also for building an EU as a superpower of the European monopolies. But it cannot be considered a principle of international relations. On the contrary.

Jack Straw also had this to say: "As the Community grew, so too would the European Commission, until it resembled a mass meeting rather than the coherent delivery-focussed body we want it to be." What a prospect to fill the British government with horror! A body which resembles a mass meeting!

The stand of Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, amply demonstrates the anti-popular, anti-democratic nature of the EU and its increasingly reactionary direction of development.

Robin Cook, former Foreign Secretary and now Leader of the Commons, said during questions yesterday on forthcoming parliamentary business, that the technological capacity of North Korea in developing missiles must not be underestimated.

In this connection he went on to say that it was too early for a decision on whether Britain would support plans for the National Missile Defence system of the US. But he spoke of the "very real threat of nuclear missile proliferation". This turns upside down who is the aggressor and who the aggressed against, as everyone knows.

Diane Abbott asked Robin Cook for a debate on the NMD so that the House of Commons could explore the fact that its technology was "wholly unproven". She argued, "It is almost certainly in breach of existing disarmament treaties, the threat posed to America of a nuclear strike by North Korea is risible and these are proposals that have been opposed both by Russia, China and most EU states."

Robin Cook also said in reply, "The House would be right to be worried about the proliferation of ballistic missile technology." This is to side with US imperialism in its claims that the ABM treaty must be torn up.

WDIE condemns Robin Cooks accusations about the DPRK as quite gratuitous, without foundation and in line with the most reactionary trend in international affairs.

Rail passengers on a key commuter route are to go on strike in protest at poor train services.

A protest group representing nearly 3,000 travellers has issued a 60-day ultimatum to Great Western to improve the service or face a one-day boycott by passengers.

David Da Costa, chairman of the action society, said: "We are expecting 100% support for our strike." The ultimatum is due to be presented to Great Western management at a meeting on Monday. David Da Costa said: "Even the Great Western managers have told us that they consider the service is bad and that the rail industry is in crisis."

– Demands Urgent Action by UN Security Council to Condemn and Stop the Gross Violations of International Law by Israeli Authorities –

Prague, July 4, 2001

The World Federation of Trade Unions strongly condemns the provocative attacks by Israeli warplanes on Syrian positions in Lebanon which amount to premeditated aggression by the Israeli authorities and wanton violation of international law. The WFTU denounces the deliberate attempts by Israel to escalate tensions, subjecting the people of the region to war and destruction, to instability, threatening peace in the region and the world.

For 34 years, the successive Israeli governments have been refusing to implement the UN Security Council resolutions calling for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from all occupied Arab territories. This is now compounded every day by new crimes committed by the Israeli armed forces including brutal murders of the people living in the occupied territories and direct attacks on countries in the region seeking to sabotage all the efforts to secure a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.

The WFTU demands that the United Nations Security Council should take firm steps to implement its own resolutions and insist that Israel immediately stop its aggressive acts, respect Lebanon’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and withdraw from all occupied Arab territories in Palestine, Syrian Golan and Lebanese Shebaa farms, to positions before June 4, 1967. The WFTU urges the UN and all member governments to support the legitimate rights and struggle of the Arab people.

The WFTU appeals to trade unions and all democratic and peace-loving peoples and governments of all countries to take all possible steps to secure an immediate end to the murderous attacks on unarmed people in Palestine and other occupied territories and other acts of Israeli aggression in gross violation of international law and UN resolutions.

More than eighty Palestinian children under the age of 16 are currently being held in Israeli prisons. Protesting against the appalling and horrific conditions of their incarceration, the children went on a hunger strike – a hunger strike that was met by tear gas and beatings from prison officials. Nine were injured, two of whom were so seriously injured they had to be hospitalised and have remained in hospital, while four other children were moved to solitary confinement.

Since the beginning of the Intifada, over 80 Palestinian minors – children under the age of 16 – have been arrested and imprisoned in Israeli jails. Initially placed with criminal prisoners, the minors have been abused, degraded and have suffered from humiliating conditions.

A protest is being held on Friday, July 6, at the Tel Mond Prison where the children are incarcerated to draw attention to the reality and the plight of Palestinian children in Israeli jails. Other actions will be held in the future also. The demonstration is being organised by the Coalition for Palestinian Political Prisoners.

The protesters have adopted the slogans: Free Palestinian Children from Israeli Jails! Palestinian children belong in schools – not in Israeli prisons! No Peace Without Prisoners Release! Palestinian Prisoners – Soldiers Against the Occupation! Tel Mond Prison=Child Abuse!

A majority of African heads of state have made representations to the US Congress to stop passing the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Bill of 2001, Zimbabwe News Agency reported on Wednesday.

A total of 35 out of the 48 heads of state with diplomatic representation in Washing on June 29 had instructed their envoys to sign an appeal to the Congress "to dissuade the American legislators from passing the Bill that would impose sanctions against Zimbabwe".

The heads of state were following up on an Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Summit Declaration last July which observed that the proposed Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Bill will prohibit assistance or debt relief to Zimbabwe by international financial institutions where the US is a powerful member.

Ten reasons were given by the OAU for not supporting the Bill. Economic sanctions will hurt the people of Zimbabwe, disrupt the economies of neighbouring countries and above all interfere in Zimbabwe’s affairs and seek to influence the country’s domestic policies.

In a statement by African ambassadors endorsing the OAU declaration, it is pointed out: "Furthermore, these measures lose sight of the fact that political and social tension in Zimbabwe today stems from the unresolved colonial land division whereby 4,500 white farmers, mostly of British origin, still hold 60 percent of the best farming land to the exclusion of millions of landless and unemployed indigenous Africans whose grandfathers were driven from those lands without compensation." The ambassadors pointed out that Zimbabwe remained committed to the principles of democracy in spite of the political and social disturbances. The statement continued: "The disagreements between the executive and the judiciary have been resolved by mutual agreement."