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Canny approach to EU keeps Ireland's sense of self-interest strong



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Published Date: 29 May 2008
By George Kerevan
ON 12 JUNE, our Irish cousins are holding a referendum to ratify the Lisbon Treaty, aka the old EU constitution given a fresh lick of paint. The other 26 member states have decided to avoid putting ratification to a popular vote, having seen the original draft constitution shot down in flames by French and Dutch voters.
As the Irish are the only nation holding a referendum on the Lisbon rewrite, their verdict will determine whether the treaty – designed to make the multi-member EU more governable – stands or falls. The European Commission president, José Manuel Barr...



The full article contains 1039 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 28 May 2008 9:14 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: George Kerevan
 
1

truthsleuth,

29/05/2008 01:16:52
Yes the Irish (southern) are cannier than the Scots or English and they have used their EU membership to advantage. The Scots English/Welsh/Ulster folk have soaked up the rubbish printed in the Sun?Mail/etc rags without question.

As the joke goes

How many Irishmen does it take to change a light bulb
Answer three
one to turn the screw driver and two to turn the ladder

It now reads
how many Englishmen does it take to change a lightbulb etc
2

Sierra Foothills Scot,

Diamond Springs 29/05/2008 05:04:57
I didn't think truthsleuth wants to allow people to have lightbulbs. He (or she) seems to prefer to have people freezing in the dark.
3

donald,

glasgow 29/05/2008 07:59:32
Q How many Labourites does it take to change a light bulb?

A None. Labour never change anything.
4

Neil,

Glasgow 29/05/2008 13:56:20
How fortunate the Irish are to have a constitution to guarantee their rights while we only have politicians who have already proven, by breaking their election promise on a referendum, thatthere are absolutely no circumstances in which their word can be trusted.

Good for the Irish. I hope they will stand up to the EU apparatchiks. The result of a No vote would probably not be to help us by scuppering the not-a-constitution but to get Ireland into the associate member status of Norway & Iceland - which experience suggests would not impoverish them. I wish we could too. What happened to the noises some SNP & Tories made about having a Scottish referendum on the subject.
5

Taoiseach,

Dept. of the Taoiseach, Dublin 29/05/2008 14:27:18
The Lisbon Treaty will finally give us as Irish and Europeans one external voice, instead of 27 different voices when dealing with issues of foreign affairs. It will add weight to our diplomacy, especially when you are dealing with people like President George Bush.

We will have a European external affairs service, which will be better able to coordinate aid on a European wide basis to respond to disasters such as the 2006 Tsunami, earthquakes in Pakistan and China, so that the EU is mucher quicker to respond with aid to world disasters.





PS: Yes this is your supreme master and overlord Brian Cowan your Taoiseach :)

6

Dr. James Wilkie,

Vienna 29/05/2008 16:22:41
Irrespective of what happens in ireland, constitutional challenges to the Lisbon treaty are on foot in Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria. The reaction of the German Constitutional Court will be crucial. It already stopped the Federal President from signing Germany's ratification of the EU Constitution, so that its attitude to the Constitution Mk. II will be interesting. In any event, the Lisbon proposals are obviously not going to enter into force on 1 January 2009 as planned.

7

EWB,

UK 29/05/2008 18:24:00
Daniel Hannan, MEP, reports in this week's Spectator that regardless of the outcome of the Irish referendum, "most of the policies and institutions that would have been authorised by the Constitution/Lisbon Treaty have been implemented anyway: the Charter of Fundamental Human Rights, the European External Action Service, common rules on immigration, a pan-European magistracy. With a bit of lawyerly creativity, Eurocrats will be able to get 95% of their constitution this way.

"As for the remaining 5% - chiefly the new voting weights, the smaller Commission and the single presidency - these will be agreed at a miniature inter-governmental conference in a year or so. We shall be told that there is no need for any referendums, since the changes represent a rearrangement of the furniture, not new powers for Brussels."

And yesterday, Barroso threatened the Irish if they did not vote for the Lisbon Treaty.

Welcome to the EU-SSR.

 

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