Responses to EU Muddle

1. Brace yourself for bullying and threats

Fact-massaging and guilt will be the tools employed to sort out the treaty crisis, writes Gene Kerrigan

By Gene Kerrigan
Sunday June 22 2008

Up to 10 days ago, there was a pretence that voting mattered. Now, the gloves are off, the teeth are bared. We didn't do as we were told -- and our betters are really pissed off at us.

It's so refreshing, this admission that democracy isn't all it's cracked up to be. Frankly, some of us think democracy is worth more than the hurt feelings of a bunch of inept politicians...

Ms McKenna, according to a Government minister, is a liar. What's the record?

(She said)...Ms McKenna had stated that ratification of the proposed EU Constitution had stopped in 2005 after referendums in France and the Netherlands voted it down. In theory, if even one of the 27 EU nations fails to agree on such a major change, the matter has to be dropped.

Despite Ireland's vote, Ms McKenna pointed out, the big countries continue to urge ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.

Here's Dick Roche on Morning Ireland on Thursday: "Not for the first time in this campaign, Ms McKenna has been completely and absolutely untruthful."

"It is simply not the truth for her to say that ratification stopped in other countries [in 2005]," said Dick. "She knows that. She knows, for example, that Luxembourg had a referendum after France and the Netherlands."

Ms McKenna, according to a Government minister, is a liar. What's the record?

MUST Read entire article: Brace yourself for bullying and threats

Irish Independent, Ireland - 3 hours agoBy Gene Kerrigan It was rude and unseemly when Government Minister Dick Roche called Patricia McKenna a liar. Otherwise, the fallout from the defeat of the ...

2. A RATIFIED RESPONSE: What part of “no” do Barroso and his Euroclan in Brussels not understand? He claims that 18 countries have ratified this muddled treaty, but that was the politicians, not the inhabitants.

John JamesMilford on Sea, Hampshire

GIVE EVERYONE THE VOTE: You quote Daniel Cohn-Bendit as saying that “it is not truly democratic that less than a million people can decide the fate of almost half a billion Europeans”. He’s absolutely right. The half a billion should have a vote as well, not just their largely self-appointed “leaders”.

Philip CakebreadBanstead, Surrey

THE ‘WRONG’ ANSWER: The rules say that every country has to ratify it, but the only country democratic enough to allow its population to decide said no. The European response to this, just as when the treaty’s previous incarnation was rejected, is to continue regardless. Apparently, in Europe, one is not allowed to give the “wrong” answer. Is there a parallel with the situation in Zimbabwe?

David HelliwellSilecroft, Cumbria

Read more:
Ireland a thorn in the European

clipped from Google - 6/2008

3. Lisbon: concessions – then a second vote?

Sunday Business Post, Ireland - 8 hours ago

A second Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty looks like the best option for the EU and, if we vote No again, then we could be invited to leave the union. ...