The original treaty proposing an EU Constitution was negotiated by the Irish during their Presidency of the EU (the Irish media at the time even referred to it as the Dublin treaty, hoping it would lead to Dublin taking its place amongst the other European Cities with a treaty named after it, such as Amsterdam, Maastricht, Nice and Rome).
So it's interesting to see that according to the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, "“The substance of what was agreed in 2004 has been retained" and “Really what is gone is the term constitution."
So although the Telegraph is wrong that the implications of Ireland having a referendum implies anything for the UK situation (Ireland always has referendums on the EU - they'd have a referendum if there was a treaty mandating the sort of chocolate biscuits to be served at the Council of Europe meetings), it does seem that the Irish have backed their main point.
This is clearly a disgraceful attempt by the EU to ignore the democratically expressed will of the French and Dutch people on the treaty. More to the point, the wiggling by Brown and Blair about their election promises is basically saying "we don't need to vote on the duck any more, because we're now calling it a chicken".
Which is a pretty good analogy for the two PMs.
4 comments:
A Constitution should limit the power of politics.
Therefore:
Vote Yes to Free Europe Constitution at www.FreeEurope.info
Personally I’m spitting feathers either way ;-)
The European political elite behave as if they were Kings and Princes of Europe, entitled to make treaties on their own recognisance.
Tony Blair appears to share this view. He promised a referendum on the constitution and is now trying to pretend this so-called ‘treaty’ that contains over 90% of the rejected constitution does not need one. While Gordon Brown is keeping his head down and hoping it will all blow over.
How dare they? We are not their subjects, they are our servants, elected to represent our views and guard our rights. They derive any mandate they have from us.
This is another absolutely glaring example of just how ambivalent to the democratic process the EU actually is. Especially with the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso urging the UK not to hold a referendum.
A point that’s been missed by many commentaries on the new (it’s not a constitution if we call it a) treaty, is the removal of free and undistorted competition as a policy aim of the EU. Doesn’t seem like much at cursory glance, but it may have big implications.
What is so special about the previous treaty. That it requires referendum to change it.
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