REFERENDUM FALLOUT : POLITICIANS SQUIRM
IN WAKE OF DEFEAT!
The decision of the Irish People last Thursday, Meitheamh/June 12, 2008, to reject the Lisbon Treaty has left the political elite in disarray not only in Ireland but, across the European Community. Some of the reaction, from French President Sarkynoze and German Foreign Minister, Steinmeier, is petulant and counter-productive as their arrogance proves the NO case even more than was stated during the referendum campaign. The Lisbon Treaty is a dead duck; the sooner the political elite accept this and stop digging deeper into the hole they have made for themselves by trying to bypass democratic support of the peoples of Europe for whatever unity and levels of cooperation can be agreed, the better for everyone. European Unity is not a development for the sole enjoyment of government elites and the bureaucrats, it is only justified if the rights of the people are protected and their living standards are improved thereby.
The decision of the Irish People last Thursday, Meitheamh/June 12, 2008, to reject the Lisbon Treaty has left the political elite in disarray not only in Ireland but, across the European Community. Some of the reaction, from French President Sarkynoze and German Foreign Minister, Steinmeier, is petulant and counter-productive as their arrogance proves the NO case even more than was stated during the referendum campaign. The Lisbon Treaty is a dead duck; the sooner the political elite accept this and stop digging deeper into the hole they have made for themselves by trying to bypass democratic support of the peoples of Europe for whatever unity and levels of cooperation can be agreed, the better for everyone. European Unity is not a development for the sole enjoyment of government elites and the bureaucrats, it is only justified if the rights of the people are protected and their living standards are improved thereby.
Daniel Cohn-Bendit, French MEP and retired “revolutionary” from the days of Paris 1968, was reported in “Der Spiegel” as saying the “Irish NO voters don’t give a shit about the EU” and should be asked again “if they really want to stand to one side and block everything”...”I’m sick of phantom debates, I want clear decisions about what’s to become of Europe”. Leaving aside the incongruity of speech as to how one can block anything by standing to one side, we suggest Mr Cohn-Bendit looks in the mirror as he was one of the members of the unelected convention which drew up the original EU Constitution of which the Lisbon Treaty is the identical twin. So, if there is lack of clarity of decisions, he knows where to look. We, for our part, are sick of pig-ignorant remarks from the likes of Mr Cohn-Bendit who don’t bother themselves to try to understand the criticisms being made of their dogmatic prescriptions for Europe which are not shared by the vast majority of people in Europe.
In an ocean of ignorance it was welcome to see some excellent common sense from former French Foreign Minister, Hubert Védrine, a minister in Chirac’s government, who stated “European elites want to act as if they were in a federation, but, it’s not a federation. You cannot make peoples disappear, so, we’re going in circles. “We’re wasting time looking for the ideal Treaty when we should be concentrating our efforts on having policies on energy, on ecology, on how to act towards China… it’s not Treaties that prevent us doing so”. “For 10 or 15 years people have been showing that they are happy to live in peace, to cooperate and have shared projects, but, they don’t want to be merged together. The elites don’t accept this idea, so they keep trying to invent new mechanisms”.
In an ocean of ignorance it was welcome to see some excellent common sense from former French Foreign Minister, Hubert Védrine, a minister in Chirac’s government, who stated “European elites want to act as if they were in a federation, but, it’s not a federation. You cannot make peoples disappear, so, we’re going in circles. “We’re wasting time looking for the ideal Treaty when we should be concentrating our efforts on having policies on energy, on ecology, on how to act towards China… it’s not Treaties that prevent us doing so”. “For 10 or 15 years people have been showing that they are happy to live in peace, to cooperate and have shared projects, but, they don’t want to be merged together. The elites don’t accept this idea, so they keep trying to invent new mechanisms”.
Exactly. It should be a warning to the other smaller states of the Community that if Ireland is bullied on this occasion, it could be they will be next on some other issue which is in their vital interest. Beware.
FearFeasa Mac Léinn
Áth Cliath/DUBLIN, 17 Meitheamh/June 2008.
No comments:
Post a Comment