Van Rompuy to Cameron: ‘We have an exit clause’

EurActiv ^ | 01 March 2013 | (with Reuters)

[Olog-hai]

Herman Van Rompuy, European Council President, issued his strongest warning yet to Britain, saying in a speech in London yesterday (28 February) that the EU’s door was open to those in the club who want to leave. …

… Van Rompuy laced his speech in London’s financial district with a clear warning to Cameron: Europe will not countenance any attempt by Britain to win an ‘a-la-carte’ membership, picking and choosing which of the European Union’s rules it will follow and which to reject.

He cautioned Prime Minister David Cameron that the bloc’s other leaders do not want to renegotiate Europe’s founding treaties and that simpler means were available for Britain to redefine its relationship to Europe.

“Leaving the club altogether, as a few advocate, is legally possible,” Van Rompuy said. “We have an ‘exit clause’. But it's not a matter of just walking out. It would be legally and politically a most complicated and unpractical affair. Just think of a divorce after 40 years of marriage.” …

[Olog-hai]

Wrong analogy. Lest anyone has forgotten, the USSR also had “exit clause(s)” in its constitutions, claiming that any Soviet Republic could leave that union:

To every Union Republic is reserved the right freely to secede from the USSR. — 1936 constitution, Article 17

Each Union Republic shall retain the right freely to secede from the USSR. — 1977 constitution, Article 72

The means of secession from the European Union are laid out in a very complex form (in Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon, giving the central government all the power to negotiate terms. (So technically van Rompuy is lying about the treaties needing to be renegotiated, but he isn’t mentioning what the current treaty clauses involve.) Britain can break free of the treaty by invoking clausula rebus sic stantibus, but the EU is a bit out of hand now.

This (the EU) is the entity that Kerry is pushing a “free trade” agreement with, remember. That would mean the USA joining the European Economic Area, which is just like joining the EU; ask Norway how the EU bullies them around.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The South had an "exit clause" from the federation, and look how that worked out.

[ScaniaBoy]

The South had an "exit clause" from the federation, and look how that worked out.

The EU has not got an army - yet! Therefore it is a good time to secede now, especially when other countries (eg Italy, Spain) may either decide to leave as well or divide into smaller units.

[Regulator]

Van Rompuy? The bank clerk, as Nigel Farage called him, issuing "warnings" to the British?

Gottem rollin' in the aisles, folks. The mouse roars.

[hoosierham]

The Brits ought to get out while they can;it is never good to surrender your sovreignty.

[Owl558]

“The South had an “exit clause” from the federation, and look how that worked out.”

Aren’t you exactly 180 degrees wrong on that? There are no provisions for leaving the republic that I am aware of. Of course, there is the God-given “exit clause” of taking up arms to resist tyranny. But at that point, laws don’t really matter anymore.

I think it is tellingly ironic that the EU response to a member thinking about leaving is to threaten them with paperwork. Well, at least there won’t be war, which is progress for Europe.

[Olog-hai]

There are other kinds of warfare besides force of arms.

[SaraJohnson]

The EU is truly a nightmare for European Nations...like the UN is to Nations, globally.

The bigger government power, the better to today’s elitists but the opposite is true for human life. The smaller and closer to the people a government is, the less stupid, abusive and dangerous it is to the people it governs.

[Owl558]

Indeed, like warfare by a billion bureaucratic strings.