Ganley and Bonde: The Irish Government has betrayed its people
Comment) The Irish Government has betrayed its people
DECLAN GANLEY AND JENS-PETER BONDE
Today , Thursday 11 December 2008 @ 09:13 CET
EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - The French president yesterday told the group
leaders of the European parliament that he has made a deal with the
Irish government to hold a second referendum in Ireland to ratify the
Lisbon treaty first rejected on 12 June by 53 percent of Irish voters.
None of the representatives of the Irish people who voted No to the
Lisbon Treaty were consulted by the Irish government before they struck
a deal with the French Presidency. The Irish government has simply
ignored the result of the referendum and betrayed those people who voted
No in the majority.
Government ministers, including the prime minister, have been urging
other countries to "isolate" Ireland by ratifying the treaties so that
the Irish could sweat it out and then change their mind.
And what do they deliver as concessions to the Irish voters? Not one
single word to be changed in the treaty that was also rejected by the
French and Dutch voters in referendums in 2005 when it went under the
name of "Constitution".
Not one word or legal obligation will be changed. The same content will
simply be put in a new envelope, just as Valery Giscard d'Estaing said
about the change from the Constitution to the Lisbon Treaty. But this
time, not even the headline or the wording will be changed.
It is the same text as the one that was rejected.
It is legally doubtful if it is possible to repeat a binding referendum
on the same text in the same parliamentary period.
In the new envelope, there will be a lot of nice words in Declarations.
They have not the slightest legal value. They will neither change
anything in the treaties nor hinder the court in Luxembourg from
deciding directly against whatever the Declarations say.
Then, they will have the promise of a commissioner from each member
state. Fine. But the Irish commissioner will be picked by a majority of
prime ministers and presidents in the EU. The Irish government can come
up with "suggestions", but other member states decide.
It would indeed be a concession if they were to change the treaty and
allow every member state to elect its own commissioner, and it would be
democratic progress if we could elect our commissioner in direct
elections together with the elections to the European Parliament.
The Irish government has simply given in and will not even insist on the
right of Ireland to nominate its own commissioner.
Declan Ganley is president of Libertas and Jens-Peter Bonde is president
of the EU Democrats and a member of the European Parliament from
1979-2008