@Dan: The formality presently lies in (I'm guessing a bit, I'd have to ask Anthea McIntyre to know for sure) the prime minister signing the decision to ratify taken by the British House of Commons about a month ago, and then submitting the papers to Rome (which is the location designated for safe storage of all the Ratified-papers). It's more or less a formality. One could ask the UK prime minister to accomplish this as soon as possible, and apparently both Angela Merkel (Germany) and Nicolas Sarkoszy should be urged to follow his good example speedily. Working on this!
One thing I would very much like to see debated in for instance media is the way the big European member states have played this transition process out - France essentially single-handedly blocked the inauguration of observers for about two years by now - and bear in mind that decisions taken under the Lisbon Treaty (as they are currently taken) can only be taken by the full parliament which includes me and my colleagues!! An essentially, well, "unconstitutional" disruption of the democratic delegation of power now, through the continued delays by big MS state chiefs (prime ministers, chancellors, presidents in UK, DE, FR) in signing protocols, perpetuated. I find it disconcerting that domestic squabbles inside the larger member states have such a disproportional impact on the democratic state of the entire Union. It doesn't seem right to me.
@Karin: The rest of the legislature (=mandatperiod, or at least the closest translation I've been able to find of mandatperiod) is 3 years (up until June 2014) and we'd get to sit the remainder of this time. How it works formally or practically I don't know.
The political groups will have to enter into negotiations with each other about how the new seats get distributed over delegations, committees and such. I guess someone will call me or send me a letter about where I have to present myself and when, but I'm trying to keep in touch with the Green Group (that the Piratpartiet is co-operating with) and their secretariat to see what is happening and how.
@Dan: The formality presently lies in (I'm guessing a bit, I'd have to ask Anthea McIntyre to know for sure) the prime minister signing the decision to ratify taken by the British House of Commons about a month ago, and then submitting the papers to Rome (which is the location designated for safe storage of all the Ratified-papers). It's more or less a formality. One could ask the UK prime minister to accomplish this as soon as possible, and apparently both Angela Merkel (Germany) and Nicolas Sarkoszy should be urged to follow his good example speedily. Working on this!
One thing I would very much like to see debated in for instance media is the way the big European member states have played this transition process out - France essentially single-handedly blocked the inauguration of observers for about two years by now - and bear in mind that decisions taken under the Lisbon Treaty (as they are currently taken) can only be taken by the full parliament which includes me and my colleagues!! An essentially, well, "unconstitutional" disruption of the democratic delegation of power now, through the continued delays by big MS state chiefs (prime ministers, chancellors, presidents in UK, DE, FR) in signing protocols, perpetuated. I find it disconcerting that domestic squabbles inside the larger member states have such a disproportional impact on the democratic state of the entire Union. It doesn't seem right to me.
@Karin: The rest of the legislature (=mandatperiod, or at least the closest translation I've been able to find of mandatperiod) is 3 years (up until June 2014) and we'd get to sit the remainder of this time. How it works formally or practically I don't know.
The political groups will have to enter into negotiations with each other about how the new seats get distributed over delegations, committees and such. I guess someone will call me or send me a letter about where I have to present myself and when, but I'm trying to keep in touch with the Green Group (that the Piratpartiet is co-operating with) and their secretariat to see what is happening and how.