Under the watchful gaze of a bronze statue of a former pope, leaders from 25 European countries gathered together to sign the European Union constitution on October 29. The momentous ceremony was symbolically held on Capitoline Hill in Rome in the same room where the original Treaty of Rome was signed to establish the European Economic Community, forerunner to the EU, in 1957.
Once adopted, the constitution, which is 300 pages long and consists of more than 400 articles, will replace most of the existing EU treaties. It will bring the 25 member states under one supranational government body and law.
The EU faces a major obstacle to implementation of the constitution however: 11 member nations, including the UK, have committed to holding referendums to ratify the constitution. In those countries, rather than the constitution being ratified by parliament, the people will vote directly to accept or reject it. The constitution must be ratified by all nations in order to come into effect Nov. 1, 2006. If there is a no vote in even just one country, a clause states the matter will be taken up by the European Council.
“A ‘no’ vote would … spur the creation of a two-speed Europe in which countries like France and Germany will push ahead toward an ‘ever closer union’ without laggards like Britain” (United Press International, October 28).
Still, the signing of this document was a historic event with profound implications. As Henri Spaak, the former secretary general of nato, said of the 1957 signing: “We felt like Romans on that day; we were consciously re-creating the Roman Empire.”
This magazine has long contended that the unification of Europe under the guise of the EU is in fact a resurrection of the Roman Empire of old, in accordance with Bible prophecy. A united Europe, going back to its Roman roots, will once again be a world-ruling empire.
For more on where this resurrection of the Roman Empire is leading and on the prophetic implications of the EU constitution, see our August 2004 article “Europe’s True Nature Exposed” under “Issue Archives” at
www.theTrumpet.com.