What part of Ireland's 'no' does the EU not understand?

Asking the Irish to vote again on the Lisbon treaty is arrogant, insulting and undemocratic

Imagine if, following the election of Barack Obama by 52.9% of American voters, the Republican party, which got just 45.7% of votes, demanded another election. Imagine if the Republicans described Obama's victory as a "triumph of ignorance" – brought about by an "unspeakable" and "ignorant" mass of people who should have been "swatted away by the forces of the establishment" – and insisted on holding a second election so that, this time, the voters could "get it right".

There would be uproar, outrage, widespread disgust at such elite disdain for the democratic process. Well, now you know how the Irish people must feel. In June this year, 53.4% of Irish voters rejected the Lisbon treaty, against 46.6% who supported it (giving the "No" camp a "sweeping victory" similar to Obama's). Yet now the Irish will be asked to vote again. EU officials' behind-doors deal to force a second referendum in Ireland reveals their utter contempt for Irish voters, and for democracy itself. It is an historic sucker punch against the sovereignty of the people.

As soon as the Irish people's ballots were counted in June, their rejection of Lisbon was treated as the "wrong" answer, as if they had been taking part in a multiple-choice maths exam and had failed to work out that 2+2=4. Now, they will be given a chance to sit the exam again, "until [they] come up with the right answer," says George Galloway, attacking EU elitism. The notion that the Irish "got it wrong" exposes gobsmacking ignorance about democracy in the upper echelons of the EU. The very fact that a majority of Irish people said no to Lisbon made it the "right answer", true and sovereign and final. "No" really does mean no.

The Irish were subjected to a tirade of slanderous abuse when they dared to reject officials' carefully crafted and profound (in truth, overlong and turgid) document on the future of the EU. One Brussels official described them as "ungrateful bastards", on the basis that Ireland has received lots of handouts from the EU and thus should be more obedient to its paymaster. Pro-EU commentators blamed "populist demagogues" for cajoling the Irish into voting no, and said the EU's plans should not be "derailed by lies and disinformation".

It was widely claimed that the Irish simply didn't understand the treaty, and may have been confused by its "technocratic, near incomprehensible language" (well, they are ignorant Paddies, after all). Some claimed that the Irish mistakenly, possibly even illegitimately, had used the referendum to register disgruntlement with their own ruling parties. Margot Wallström, vice-president of the European Commission, said officials should try to "work out what the Irish people had really been voting against". I would have thought that was obvious: they were handed the Lisbon treaty; they said no to it.

We've been here before. When French and Dutch voters rejected the European constitution in 2005 (and according to Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the current Lisbon treaty is the "same as the constitution"), they were sneeringly insulted by their betters in Brussels. Neil Kinnock said it was a "triumph of ignorance". Andrew Duff, Liberal Democrat MEP, labelled the "rejectionists" as an "odd bunch of racists, xenophobes, nationalists, communists, the disappointed centre left and the generally pissed off". He asked whether it is wise to "submit the EU Constitution to a lottery of uncoordinated national plebiscites".

Clearly not, since the plebs might just reject it. The EU's attempts to force the constitution/Lisbon treaty through despite its democratic rejection, and now their offer of a few addendums to the Irish people, make it come across as a corrupt, archaic oligarchy, ensconced in its palaces, looking down at the people of Europe as a strange, dumb, untrustworthy blob.

All of the Irish people I know remain passionate about the idea of Europe. Even those who rejected Lisbon think of Ireland as European, and have travelled, worked and made friends on the continent. It is not Europe that they rejected in the referendum in June, but a document produced by a cut-off and aloof European elite, those cosmopolitan poseurs who are in reality distrustful of Europe's masses, whether it's the thick Irish, the xenophobic French, or the mysterious Turks. The Irish were being properly European; the EU is being merely elitist.

Source: guardian.co.uk

Irish will vote on EU's Lisbon Treaty for a second time next year

Why? I thought they voted NO earlier this year!

All 27 member states must ratify the Treaty before it comes into force. Ireland, Poland and the Czech Republic are the only nations that have not yet agreed to do so.

British voters were initially promised a referendum on whether to adopt the EU Constitution, but the Government decided against allowing it after the document was rebranded as the Lisbon Treaty.

On Thursday the Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen will confirm that a new vote will be held in 2009.

Diplomats have named October as the most likely date for the vote, while Government sources said April was also being considered

Mr Cowen said he believed that the economic crisis could help persuade some of those who voted against the Treaty to change their minds.

The Government is expected to argue that Ireland would have been in a worse position if it had not signed up to the euro, and that the Treaty will speed up decision-making and help tackle the downturn.

Diplomats said a deal had been struck between France, which holds the rotating EU presidency, Ireland and EU legal services in Brussels under which the Lisbon Treaty could enter into force by January 2010.

As part of the deal, Dublin will retain the right to name an EU Commissioner – a major concession to appease Irish voters who rejected the Treaty in June. Under the treaty, the number of commissioners is to be capped at two-thirds the number of member states, each of whom currently appoint a candidate to the post.

Mr Cowen will also seek assurances from his EU peers at the summit on December 11 and 12 that the Treaty will not undermine Ireland's own policies in sensitive areas such as abortion, taxation and military neutrality, diplomats said.

"There is still some tweaking to do, but there is an understanding," a second diplomat said.

An Irish parliamentary report last month gave the legal go-ahead for the government to hold a second plebiscite.

But despite the backing of France for the special treatment Ireland is seeking in return for holding a second vote, it is far from certain that other EU states will give their blessing.

Source: telegraph.co.uk

EU Constitution author says referendums can be ignored

The former President of France drafted the old Constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters three years ago before being resurrected as the Lisbon EU Treaty, itself shunned by the Irish two weeks ago.

Mr Giscard d'Estaing told the Irish Times that Ireland's referendum rejection would not kill the Treaty, despite a legal requirement of unanimity from all the EU's 27 member states.

"We are evolving towards majority voting because if we stay with unanimity, we will do nothing," he said.

"It is impossible to function by unanimity with 27 members. This time it's Ireland; the next time it will be somebody else."

"Ireland is one per cent of the EU".

Mr Giscard d'Estaing also admitted that, unlike his original Constitutional Treaty, the Lisbon EU Treaty had been carefully crafted to confuse the public.

"What was done in the [Lisbon] Treaty, and deliberately, was to mix everything up. If you look for the passages on institutions, they're in different places, on different pages," he said.

"Someone who wanted to understand how the thing worked could with the Constitutional Treaty, but not with this one."

France and Germany are putting pressure on Ireland to hold a second referendum which would allow the Lisbon Treaty to come into force before European elections on June 4 2009.

Mr Giscard d'Estaing believes "there is no alternative" to a second Irish vote, a view shared by Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President.

Mr Sarkozy, who takes over the EU's rotating presidency next week, will use a Brussels summit on October 15 to force Ireland to find a way out of Europe's Treaty difficulties.

"Everyone agrees it has to be sorted out by the time of European elections," he said at the weekend.

Václav Klaus, the Czech President has continued to insist that the Lisbon Treaty "cannot come into force" after the Irish vote.

"The EU cannot ignore its own rules. The Lisbon Treaty has been roundly and democratically rejected by Ireland, and it therefore cannot come into force," he told El Pais newspaper.

"Any attempt to ignore this fact and make recourse to pressure and political manipulation to move the treaty forward would have disastrous consequences."

Mark François, Conservative spokesman on Europe, also insisted that it was time that European politicians started to respect the Irish No vote.

"The Irish people gave an emphatic No to the Treaty of Lisbon on a record turnout and it would be good for politicians of all countries to respect this democratic decision," he said.

"The point is particularly clear to us here in Britain as the Irish were fortunate to be given a referendum which we were denied by our Government."

An opinion poll for the newspaper Libération has shown 44 per cent of the French want Ireland to vote again and 26 per cent want the ratification process to continue without Ireland.

But a quarter of those polled want to abandon the Treaty and 52 per cent think the Irish No vote is going to dominate Mr Sarkozy's EU presidency.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

Ireland votes No to Lisbon Treaty

At last some good news. Well-done Ireland. The people do have a voice and the voice has said NO! No, to being controlled by a group of greedy individuals that just exist for their own self interests. No, to a treaty that would gradually erode our freedoms and NO to people like David Rockefeller et al who have worked so hard to establish a European Union. You are wasting your time; the people do not want what you have to offer. The people are starting to wake up and realise who you really are and what you really stand for and we don't want you or your policies, anymore!

Ireland has voted No to the Lisbon Treaty, plunging the European Union into a new crisis.

With results coming in from across the country, a final result of 52 per cent against and 48 per cent in favour of the treaty was rapidly hardening. A final declaration is not expected until after 4 pm.

The Lisbon Treaty, the reworked successor to the formal constitutional pact dumped by voters in France and the Netherlands in 2005, officially needs the approval of all 27 EU member states. But only in Ireland has it been put to a popular vote, meaning today's result may have far-reaching consequences for the entire bloc.

Barely two hours after the count began today, the No camp had already started celebrating, while senior Fianna Fail strategists privately and glumly conceded their defeat.

“Call it hubris,” said one senior figure, “people seem to have forgotten what Ireland was like before we received European funding. They seem to think that we created our success all by ourselves. They are wrong.”

The senior figure admitted that in spite of Brian Cowen’s assurance on the eve of voting that a rerun – as happened after the Irish rejected the Nice treaty in 2001 – would not occur, it was now much more likely.

“The other 26 countries will ratify and we will be told ‘Join us when you like lads’,” he said.

In a television interview last night, Francois Fillon, French Prime Minister, was clear about the effects of a No vote. “If the Irish people decide to reject the treaty of Lisbon, naturally, there will be no treaty of Lisbon,” he warned.

Commentators said that would be a disaster for Mr Cowen, the newly appointed Irish Prime Minister who has struggled to rally the Yes vote following a surprise last-minute surge in opinion poll support for the 'no' campaign in the past week.

The final turnout figure was not yet clear. Commentators and pundits had said that a low figure would help the No campaign, since their supporters were more committed and likely to cast their ballots.

Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty leaves the EU — whose leaders meet for a summit in Brussels next week — facing a new crisis like that which followed the 2005 rejection of the formal constitution. It also means that three million voters have effectively decided the fate of a bloc of almost 500 million people.

Ireland has caused upsets in EU referendums before. In 2001, its voters rejected the Nice Treaty, a result overturned in a second poll the following year.

Source: Timesonline.co.uk

Independent.ie
News.bbc.co.uk

Unofficial sources point to a NO vote

Early unofficial vote tallies around Ireland are indicating a strong showing for the No vote in a referendum on the European Union's Lisbon Treaty.

In Irish polls, tally counters in each constituency watch votes being sorted and make their own count, giving early indications of how a vote is going.

Broadcaster RTE reports the No vote is ahead not only in rural areas, but in five out of eight areas of Dublin too.

A No vote would scupper the EU treaty, which must be ratified by all members.

more shortly............................

Irish UFOs blast into the light after 37 years in twilight zone

If the Americans can have The X Files, then so can we. A dossier on unidentified flying objects (UFOs), kept by the Irish Defence Forces for 37 years, has finally emerged.

But anyone hoping to confirm the existence of little green men will be disappointed. The best the file comes up with are flying saucers, objects shaped like fried eggs and flashing coloured lights - some of the sightings logged in documents dating back to 1947.

The file - released to the Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act - includes press cuttings about reported sightings of UFOs, along with classified memos and other correspondence.

In recent months, the British and French authorities opened their files on UFO sightings to the public. A spokesman for the Department of Defence said that, since 1984 the UFO file was no longer maintained by the Defence Forces.

Source: www.ireland.com