Airstrip One

The Cult gets it wrong

James Bennett, high priest of the Anglosphere cult, talks about a rather strange little proposal on seceding from the European Union:

Andrew Duff, a delegate belonging to the rabidly Eurofederalist British Liberal Democratic Party, has proposed that nations belonging to the Union not be allowed to withdraw from the treaties of membership without the assent of every other member-state.

Whereas what the actual text of the proposal says:

Amendments to the Constitution, or the accession or secession of a member state or associate member, will take effect if supported either:

(i) by the Council, acting by a three-quarters majority of the member states, and by the Parliament acting by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast, and ratified thereafter by all member states according to their own constitutional requirements; or

(ii) by a referendum of the citizens of the Union, by the Parliament and by the Council.

Looks like two thirds to me. Needless to say Philip Chaston on Airstrip One got it right. Jim's probably thinking of the present state of play.