The US state of Delaware uses the name ‘The First State’ because it was the first of the original 13 states to ratify the US Constitution and today, Lithuania earned itself the possible title of ‘First Country’ in years to come as it became the first country to ratify the European Constitution. Unlike the battles in other countries, this was a comparatively easy, and perhaps even popular, decision:
The Lithuanian parliament approved the treaty by 84 votes to four, with three abstentions.The opposition and some civic groups said the vote was purely political and was approved without any significant national debate, reports Steven Paulikus in Vilnius.
Thursday was the final day of the parliament’s term, raising suspicion that current MPs wanted to take credit for the ratification before leaving office, he said.
Former French President Giscard d’Estaing, who oversaw the drafting of the constitution, sent a message of congratulations to Lithuania.
“This is a brave and a bold step… Thank you, men and women of Lithuania,” he said in a letter read out in parliament.
European Commission spokesman Reijo Kemppinen said: “We congratulate them wholeheartedly for that. It is a very positive development indeed.”
One down, twenty-four to go.
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November 11th, 2004 at 6:24 pm
Yay, Lithuania! However, the true test will be the first referendum…
November 11th, 2004 at 6:40 pm
Lithuania = Brown Nose of Europe.
Bureaucratic abomination called “European Constitution” should be put into dustbin of history and forgotten.
November 11th, 2004 at 7:46 pm
Dustbin is to small for it but i can say that the price for old paper will hopefully go down
November 12th, 2004 at 1:38 am
Delaware is also the self proclaimed “Home of Tax Free Shopping”, which is what most of the other states around us know us better as. The license plate does say “The First State”, but I’ll guarantee you most out-of-staters have not a clue what the “First” refers to. So, congrats to Lithuania for your First (and probably Last time people remember you by).
November 12th, 2004 at 3:21 am
Delaware is also known as the state with no corporate taxation whatsoever. Therefore, Delaware is the “home state” of choice for many American corporations, who usually have a small office there to represent their presence. Smaller companies can take advantage of this by buying statutory representation through various corporate agents. The state actually earns proportionally speaking a nice amount of income just from the thousands of minor fees, - to the irritation of other states with corporate taxes. But federal law guarantees Delaware that right, prompting a continuing scramble amongst states to provide incentives to corporations.
Given that the Old European members of the EU are irritated at the lower levels of corporate taxation in the New European, Baltic members, it seems quite apt that Lithuania be compared to Delaware. Hopefully Lithuania will be permitted to engage in the kind of tax competition Delaware engages in. As I see it, internal tax competition will serve as one sort of a litmus test to whether Europe will ever be able to truly compete in the world.
November 12th, 2004 at 9:01 am
Laba diena!
Forza Lithuania!
November 12th, 2004 at 3:43 pm
Cheers for Lithuaia!
November 13th, 2004 at 12:54 pm
Hopefully the rest will follow suit soon…
November 13th, 2004 at 6:33 pm
The LawPundit has two long postings on this topic - via Fistful of Euros. Thank you.
http://www.lawpundit.com/blog/2004/11/european-union-constitution-lithuania.htm
http://www.lawpundit.com/blog/2004/11/european-constitution-and-eu.htm
November 15th, 2004 at 9:29 pm
One might also remember that the state of Delaware unofficial motto: “Fuckin’ Boring.”
But kudos to Lithuania for ratifying the constitution.
November 17th, 2004 at 7:38 pm
Aleks: Re.: Delaware is …Boring
Sounds like you’ve been caught many a time parked on Interstate 95 (I95), waiting in the traffic to get from one place and another. That experience would be enough to form your well-worded opinion. It’s too bad that you never got a chance to see the beaches, quaint little towns, and a host of other items not located within 50 ft of I95. I’m sure you probably think New Jersey is also ….Boring. A shame. Places (and states) are usually much more interesting once you get off the 6-8 lane highways.