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

UK ratifies the EU Lisbon Treaty

The UK has officially ratified the European Union's Lisbon Treaty. Without a word from the British people. Do the people of the UK want this treaty....NO!!!

The documents were deposited with the Italian foreign affairs ministry in Rome on Wednesday.

The move came despite doubts over its future after the "no" vote in the Irish referendum. All EU states must ratify the treaty for it to come into force.

The EU treaty has proved controversial with unsuccessful attempts in Parliament and the courts to force a referendum to be held on it.

Conservative MP Bill Cash sought a judicial review of the ratification process after the rejection from Ireland.

And two High Court judges dismissed a claim by millionaire businessman Stuart Wheeler that there was a "legitimate expectation" of a public vote.

Mr Cash branded the ratification a "gross impertinence", while Mr Wheeler described the ratification as "absolutely atrocious behaviour".

On Friday he will seek permission from a Court of Appeal judge to appeal against that decision.

He said he believed although the "instrument of ratification" has been deposited in Rome, the government still had the right to withdraw it and reverse its decision.

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said the prime minister had "no democratic or moral authority to sign Britain up to the renamed EU constitution".

It was "a total breach of trust with the British people and a flagrant breach of his solemn election promise to the British people", Mr Hague added.

He branded the government "arrogant and out of touch", and accused it of "joining in the ugly bullying of the Irish people, who have clearly rejected this treaty".

But Commons leader Harriet Harman insisted it was "in Britain's interest to be at the heart of Europe and it's in Europe's interest that Britain should play a leading part".

And Europe minister Jim Murphy said it was right to ratify the treaty "since both Houses of Parliament voted by substantial majorities in favour of it" and because it was "a good treaty" for Britain.

"The Tories are playing games and engaging in political stunts as usual. The fact is that the Tories cannot be trusted to safeguard Britain's interests in Europe," he added.

Source: News.bbc.co.uk

Meanwhile......

If the Irish had voted yes, would they still be made to vote again?

Sarkozy: ‘Irish will vote again'

Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France, held a strictly off-the-record lunch briefing for international Brussels-based correspondents on Tuesday at the Elysée.

The Daily Telegraph was not invited, in fact deliberately excluded. Officials at the French Foreign Ministry have disapproved of questions put to the President by the Telegraph during a recent Brussels summit.

But despite the best efforts of the Quai d'Orsay's diplomats, I am able to reveal on-the-record, as a blog exclusive, Mr Sarkozy's more relevant comments.

The French strategy during their six month EU Presidency, which began on July 1, is to isolate Ireland after last month's referendum rejection of the Lisbon European Union Treaty.

With the Irish people in quarantine, the other 26 EU countries will press ahead with ratifying the Treaty - 19 have done so. Mr Sarkozy made it very clear that there would be no renegotiation of a Treaty that was Part II of the EU Constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters three years ago.

"There will be no Treaty Part III," he said.

The Irish do not count.

France, along with the rest of the EU is looking for "escape hatch". "We need a soft landing in October," said Mr Sarkozy, when there will be EU summit in Brussels to find way forward by the time of European elections on June 4.

The Irish either will be asked to vote again, in a rerun of Ireland's second referendum on the Nice Treaty in 2002 - or Ireland's people will be bypassed.

The rest of the article can be found here....Blogs.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............................