With the signature of the president of the Czech Republic on the Treaty of
Lisbon, the European Union has moved another step forward towards becoming a
SuperState, just as the United States is comprised of fifty individual
states, which all must answer to a central government.

As some of you will already know, for quite some time now, certain Bible
scholars and teachers have believed that it will be this European SuperState
which will form the basis of the kingdom of the Beast -- who some refer to
as the Antichrist -- of the Book of Revelation. They envision the Beast
rising to power from a resurrected Roman Empire. But, as I've said before, I
am not fully convinced yet that this is the proper interpretation of the
Beast and the Ten Horns.

Time will certainly tell.


European Union Reform Moves Ahead

By DAN BILEFSKY and STEPHEN CASTLE - NYT

November 3, 2009


PRAGUE -- A landmark agreement aimed at giving the European Union a global
stature on par with major powers like the United States and China cleared
its last major hurdle on Tuesday.

The president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, signed the document hours
after the country's Constitutional Court ruled that it was compatible with
the Czech Constitution.

Mr. Klaus was the last European Union leader to approve the so-called Treaty
of Lisbon, which will try to increase Europe's clout on foreign policy
issues and will streamline the organization's decision-making. The treaty
required ratification by all 27 member states.

"It's now absolutely clear that the Lisbon Treaty will enter into force
soon," Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, said in
Brussels after the signing. Officials expect the document to become
effective Dec. 1, after the Czech Republic's formal ratification documents
are presented to the European Union.

The treaty aims to give the European Union a bigger role internationally by
creating a full-time presidential post with a two-and-a-half-year term and
setting up a more powerful foreign policy chief supported by a network of
diplomats around the world. It will put in place a new voting system that
reflects countries' population size, while reducing the opportunities for
individual countries to block a proposal. It also gives more power to the
directly elected European Parliament.

Fredrik Reinfeldt, prime minister of Sweden, which holds the rotating
presidency of the bloc, welcomed Mr. Klaus's move. "I am very pleased
President Klaus today has signed the Lisbon Treaty," he said in a statement,
adding that the signature signals the end of an internal argument that
lasted "far too long."

That period included eight years of sometimes acrimonious negotiations
beginning in December 2001, when European Union leaders set out to create a
constitution to provide a road map for an expanded bloc.

But the proposed constitution was rejected by voters in France and the
Netherlands in referendums in 2005. The Lisbon Treaty was meant to be a
compromise, omitting the symbols of statehood for the union that were part
of the rejected constitution, but including many of its institutional
innovations.

The treaty faltered again when Irish voters rejected it last year. But after
winning several concessions, Ireland held another referendum last month and
gave its approval.

The treaty's supporters contended that it was vital because the union's
rulebook was drawn up before the bloc began to expand, taking in 12 new
nations since 2004. Its critics, however, contend that the document
encroaches on national sovereignty and threatens to turn the European Union
into a monolithic superstate.

The signing on Tuesday was a stunning about-face for Mr. Klaus, a vociferous
opponent of the document and of the European Union itself. He had previously
warned that the treaty would undermine Czech national interests and had
refused to sign it despite the endorsement of both houses of the Czech
Parliament.

Mr. Klaus said Tuesday that he had decided to sign it out of respect for the
decision of the country's Constitutional Court. But he made little effort to
hide his contempt for the treaty.

"I cannot agree with its contents," he said, "because once
the Lisbon Treaty
will come into effect, the Czech Republic will cease to be a sovereign
state."

Analysts and people close to Mr. Klaus said that he had concluded that
failing to sign the treaty would isolate the country. They said he had also
been persuaded after European leaders agreed last week to his last-minute
demand to give the Czech Republic an effective exemption from the treaty's
Charter of Fundamental Rights, which he had argued could lead to a flood of
property claims by Germans expelled from the country after World War II.

European leaders will now be able to focus more fully on whom to appoint as
president and foreign affairs chief. Mr. Reinfeldt said he would begin
discussions immediately on filling the jobs.

Unofficial discussions at a summit meeting last week indicated that the
prospects that the presidential job would go to Tony Blair, the former
British prime minister, had faded.

Several lower-profile figures, including the prime minister of Belgium,
Herman Van Rompuy; the prime minister of the Netherlands, Jan Peter
Balkenende; and a former Austrian chancellor, Wolfgang Schuessel, appeared
more likely as contenders.

For the foreign policy post, most officials now expect a candidate from the
center-left, with the British foreign secretary, David Miliband, and a
former Italian prime minister, Massimo D'Alema, considered front-runners.

Meanwhile, the British Conservative opposition leader, David Cameron, has
long promised a referendum on the accord if he becomes prime minister in the
next several months. But he made those statements before it was clear that
the treaty would be approved before then. On Wednesday, he is expected to
clarify what his policy will be.



Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS  Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23
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