Saturday April 30, 2005

Republic of the Netherlands (1579-1795, 2006-)

Posted by Rob (#1) on April 30, 2005 07:30 CEST

And now for something completely different: something I like about the constitutional treaty of the European Union. I believe it could and should make an end to the Dutch monarchy. Firstly, the special class status of Queen Beatrix as defined in the Dutch constitution from 1848 and later revisions will no longer apply due to article I-6:

The Constitution and law adopted by the institutions of the Union in exercising competences on it shall have primacy over the law of Member States.

EU citizenship is granted in article I-10 to all nationals, so her current status beyond citizenship matters not.

Secondly, Beatrix will no longer be entitled to her special birth rights or privileges by article II-81:

Any discrimination based on any ground such as sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation shall be prohibited.

I'm thinking of demanding a proportional amount of Euro coins carrying my portrait, possibly one of the palaces to live in and most certainly a couple of million euro in punitive damages. Happy Queen's Day at last!

(Also: this article should end abortion as the right to life can not discriminatively be applied based on birth. And ending age discrimination should have severe consequences for the rights of minors when it comes to voting, purchasing alcohol or being able to consent to sexual intercourse. If adopted, I'll dare any judge to tell me I should not take the wording of this treaty literaly.)

PermaLink: Republic of the Netherlands (1579-1795, 2006-)
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