THREAD

IN WHICH THE EU BREAK INTERNATIONAL LAW

1. Their own Treaty to be precise. And not in a 'limited & specific way' either.

I refer to the latest bailout, the €750 billion Recovery Fund.

2. Article 125 of the TFEU (Lisbon Treaty) is the ‘no bailout’ provision. It prohibits member states assuming the debts of other member states.

3. However, emergency finance is available to a member state under Article 122 in the event of a natural disaster. 'Natural disasters' in international law refer mostly to weather related events such as floods, hurricanes, earthquakes etc.

4. The EU seem to adopt this definition as under Article 122(1) it states:

‘severe difficulties arise in the supply of certain products, notably in the area of energy.’

In other words, a bailout can be provided where a natural disaster has taken out essential infrastructure.

5. It's difficult to see how the Recovery Fund can fulfill the requirement of Art. 122 because:

a) the provision refers to 'a member state' (not the whole EU bloc), and

b) the funding won't be allocated until next year so it's hardly an emergency bailout for infrastructure.

6. Bearing in mind the EU's technocratic structure, had Article 122 been intended for pandemic funding, the lawyers would have explicitly included provisions for disease when they drafted the Treaty.

7. Most importantly of all, the legality of the no bailout clause (Article 125) was called into question in 2010 when Ireland received funding. Jean Claude Juncker brushed aside the illegality accusations stating:

'the loans are repayable and there’s no element of subsidy’

8. The present Recovery Fund contains €390 billion of non repayable grants, so quite how (by Juncker's own admission) what was unlawful in 2010, but is lawful in 2020 is beyond me. Perhaps Mr Juncker would care to explain?

9. The reason the EU are tying themselves in knots over the funding is that it requires changes to the Lisbon Treaty. Some of the member states have constitutional law that require treaty changes (for a debt union) to be put to referendum. But the EU don't like referendums much.

10. I decided to search for the legal Opinion provided to the EU by their lawyers to see if I could discern how the EU had made the unlawful, lawful, but, surprise, the document is confidential.

11. So, in conclusion it seems to me that without Treaty change the Recovery Fund isn’t lawful under EU treaty law. Member states will bail out other member states & the public will have no say in the matter. If they did, I think we all know what they’d say.

12. Instead of democracy the EU will use the Green Deal for more austerity. The public are going to bail the financial institutions once again & then pay for it with green taxes & cuts in spending. The wealthier nations will prop up the poorer countries for a while longer.