The EU's decision to press on again with the EU constitution, and the Irish government's decision to hold another referendum really does smack of the worst kind of undemocratic behaviour.
The fact is that the Irish rejected the EU constitution in a vote. They are unlikely to win any opt outs because that would mean other countries would have to re-ratify the treaty too, meaning in effect the Irish are going to vote again on the identical treaty, it is just that they are now expected to vote differently by their government because "they were wrong".
As the BBC correspondent on the radio said earlier, the pro EU groups in Ireland have just one campaign message, and that is that with the recession as bad as it is, this is no time to turn your back on the EU. It's an odd sort of threat that says the EU is your friend, don't make it angry, but it seems pro EU groups will do anything to get you to vote differently.
4 comments:
The Irish government - not the EU Commission or Parliament, the democratically elected government of Eire - has obtained protocols clarifying that many of the lies spread by the 'no' camp on what Lisbon would mean were, indeed, just that. With that assurance in place, therefore the concerns of many Irish people addressed, that same government is going back to ask the people 'so with these assurances, what do you think now?'. The people are still free to say no if they can come up with more objections. I simply cannot see what is meant to be undemocratic about this.
"You had your say, you were wrong, now think again and come up with a different answer"
For a moment I thought that you were referring to the revised instructions from Hazel Blears [5th December] to the Boundary Committee rigging the Unitary Council review process by enforcing a Norwich Unitary Council on Norfolk.
That's right, she's changing the rules to reward the inept and incompetant Norwich City Council with even more responsibilities.
You couldn't make it up!
If the Irish had voted yes and the voters had been lied to by the 'Yes' camp, do you think there would be a subsequent referendum? Of course not. This is an example of a government who only wants to get its own way and bully the voters into submission.
And this is the same EU whose biggest fans in the UK are... the Liberal Democrats, with their pro-federalism stance.
Sort it out!
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