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Posted at 2:57 pm by Owen Rooney
Many eurosceptics expected on Friday the 2nd of October that the referendum would be passed. They expected it to be passed with a whimper of submission, a reluctant approval by an electorate that had been "bullied" by Brussels bureaucrats into voting again. They were right about the result, but very wrong about the scale and the sentiment of it. One million, two hundred and fourteen thousand, two hundred and sixty eight Irish citizens came out to vote Yes that day, a greater number than has ever voted in favour of a European treaty in the history of our country. The turnout of 59% was the highest of any European referendum since the vote on our accession to the EEC in 1972. The scale of the Yes vote, at over 67%, was higher than even the most optimistic pro-Lisbon campaigners had hoped.
As the results came in on the Saturday, it became clear that this was far from a whimper of submission, it was a roar of approval. It was an endorsement of our place as an outward looking, progressive society. It was a rejection of the fringe forces who would drag us back to conservative nationalism, to an introverted and cynical Ireland that we left behind when we took our place in Europe in 1973. Above all else, it was a recognition that, as a small country on the edge of a continent, our future, both economically and socially, is inextricably linked to that of our neighbours, and working with them is the best way to make that future a confident, prosperous and just one.
A week on from the result, as the nation's politics returns to scandal, strikes and special interests, it becomes all the more impressive that, on one issue, there could be such agreement from such diverse groups. From every mainstream political party to businesses, unions, farmers, civic groups, students, and even a few bloggers, the nation came together to send out a clear message that, despite our other disagreements, the vast majority of us can agree on; we see ourselves at the heart of Europe, and we're proud to be there.
60 Boring technical changes in Lisbon and how they’ll help the EU function
Posted at 10:25 pm by Owen RooneyThe other week Jason posted an excellent and entertaining article on his 5 Reasons to vote Yes, including the following:
4. It improves the EU in loads of technical ways which you really don't want me to list here. I mean, we'll get them for you if you want, but only if you promise to read them. There'll be a test.
Well, it seems reader Fergus O'Rourke has challenged us to come up with the list, and I don't want it to be said that Bloggers for Europe won't debate the treaty right down to the most obscure, narcolepsy-inducing technicalities. One word of warning, though; this is going to be probably the most boring post on the Lisbon Treaty you'll ever read. I'm going to be talking about the ways in which the Commission can help develop common techniques to monitor occupational hygiene across member states. There'll be arguments for the changes to comitology procedure, a subject so boring that it makes that priest with the really boring voice from Father Ted sound like Samuel L Jackson. In fact, I'm going to try to avoid mentioning anything even moderately exciting or groundbreaking, just in case any of you are still awake by the end of the post.
Just don't say you haven't been warned.
A guff-free (I hope.) Reason to vote Yes.
Posted at 5:08 pm by Jason O'MahonyJobs. Inward investment. Reform of the institutions of the un.....bleuggh! You'll have heard all that stuff before, and from people way smarter than me.
Here's why I'm voting yes.
The EU works. It does more good than harm, and I’ve not come across a proposal from Sinn Fein or Joe Higgins or UKIP or Coir/Youth Defence which makes better sense, and wins as much support, as the EU.
We’re not voting on the EU, you cry. We’ll still be in the EU regardless of how we vote.
Yeah, that’s true, but here’s my problem:
If we vote No, the rest of Europe will respect our decision. They will accept that we have voted twice against further integration, and that we are sincere in our beliefs that this is as far as we go. In short they will, much to our surprise, actually believe us.
It seems logical to me that those other countries that want to move on will negotiate amongst themselves, and not invite us, because:
A) We have said (Three out of four times.) that we’re not interested.
B) Why would anyone negotiate with an Irish government that can’t get any agreement it makes ratified through a referendum anyway, after failing twice in a row?
They will respect us and leave us be, and I don’t want us to be left be. I want us at the table when Angela Merkel turns and says “What does Ireland think?” and no one on the No side can assure me of that. Neither Joe Higgins, Mary Lou or whoever the mysterious people in Coir/Youth Defence are have the power to make the rest of the EU pay attention to our concerns after a second No vote. Kieran Allen of the Socialist Workers Party (A People Before Profit franchise. Or is it the other way around? I can never remember.) says that the Irish people can take to the streets and demand things from the rest of Europe. Yeah, like we’re going to teach the French how to protest? I can see Sarko snorting already: “Call that a demonstration of public anger? Ha! I’ve seen Carla have bigger tantrums than that!”
There is good stuff in the treaty, but it is technical. The Council will vote in public, for example. Does that excite you? Does that cause your nether regions to stir? Is there anyone closing their curtains, and sweatily slipping “Red Hot Council Decisions Volume 2.” into their DVD player? No there isn’t. But then there are no teenagers slipping a well thumbed copy of “Aircraft Window Sealant regulations” under the sheets either, but next time you get on a plane, and look at the seal around the window, I bet you’ll think: “I hope someone checks this stuff.” Stuff can be boring AND important and this is one of those things.
Many of the people opposed to the treaty are sincere. Joe Higgins is, but Joe is also using the treaty to fight for a vision of society that he has never suceeded in doing in a general election. Trying to turn Ireland into North Korea without the psychotic midget dictator and the daily diet of tree bark and weevils is going to be a hard enough sell. At least turn up on the right battlefield , Joe.
Sinn Fein are still moving away from a 19th century view of the world towards modern times. There are some who say that Sinn Fein opposed this treaty primarily because they knew they would be the only party who would, and so would get additional publicity. Certainly, when you look at the way Sinn Fein ministers in the North talk about the EU (Quite nicely in a More Tea, Vicar? Chocolate Hobnob? kind of way.) and with the same tone that the PSNI talk about their committment to human rights, you can’t help thinking that they’re either two-faced, with a partionist approach to the EU, or the ministers in the North show the way Sinn Fein is heading on Europe. Either way, their alternative has almost no support in the rest of Europe, and believing that Sinn Fein can make the other 26 countries surrender everything is a bit hopeful: When they tried to negotiate with just one country (The Brits), the best they got were all-Ireland telly ads telling us how to not get the runs from food poisoning.
Coir/Youth Defence have it in for, well, 21st Century life on Earth. As one architect friend of mine summed them up: ” According to Coir, voting Yes will mean that the gays can force unborn children to fight in Afghanistan for €1.84 an hour.” How can we listen to people who don’t even identify themselves on their own website? What’s their real agenda, aside from splitting the lease with Youth Defence?
We have problems, big giant Godzilla-without-cute-Godzuki sized problems coming at us. We don’t need to create new problems for the sake of it, and that’s what we will do with a No vote. If you’re pissed off with the government and the political establishment, that’s fine. Kick the crap out of them at election time.
But voting No to get at the government is like being one of those morons who throws rocks at the fire brigade. As Iceland discovered, the EU is the fire brigade, and it sure is handy having a direct line to the station.
Yes is, quite simply, the sensible self-interested way to go.
Suzy Byrne on disability and the Lisbon Treaty
Posted at 2:02 pm by Owen RooneySuzy Byrne, on her blog Maman Poulet, has an excellent post on Coir's "Death Panel Politics" and how it contrasts to the what's actually in the Lisbon Treaty on disability. You can read it here.
Prof Alan Matthews on the economic consequences of a Yes or a No
Posted at 1:14 pm by Owen RooneyProfessor Alan Matthews (of the Dept of Economics, Trinity) has a post up on The Irish Economy blog on the potential economic impact of a Yes or a No vote on Oct. 2. You can read it here, and there's some well informed discussion in the comments section too.
Letter on Lisbon and public services
Posted at 1:24 pm by Owen RooneyThere was an excellent letter in yesterday's Irish Times by a man named Colm McClements, who has lived and worked in many EU countries, on claims that the Lisbon Treaty would adversely affect our public services.
As people see when they go abroad, other EU states who have ratified the Lisbon Treaty – France, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Germany to name but a few – enjoy infinitely better public service and local government than we do. Does anyone believe that politicians of these countries, rooted in many cases in municipal government themselves, would have agreed to a treaty that threatens the public services they cherish so much?
I'd advise everyone to read it, which they can do here.
The Undemocratic Democrats.
Posted at 7:20 am by Jason O'Mahony
Seriously: Think the Dail scrutinises legislation better than the European Parliament?
It's fashionable in eurosceptic circles to declare that the EU is undemocratic and unaccountable. The thing is, they tend to be a bit hazy about what the EU needs to do to be democratic. It seems to involve Germans having less rights than Irish people, which doesn't seem very democratic to me.
The other example they tend to give is of the "unelected" commission. It is unelected. like the Secretary General of the Department of Finance, or the head of the ESB, or the HSE, or Iarnrod Eireann. What's the point? Ah, but they cry, the Sec Gen and others are answerable to a minister! Which is true. As is the commission. 27 ministers, actually. What's the point?
The parliament is dismissed by eurosceptics as an irrelevence, yet the Lisbon treaty gives the parliament more powers than it has ever had. They can't have their cake AND eat it, unless they don't really believe what they are saying in the first place. And bear in mind the fact that the commssion, the bete noire of the "democrats", takes the parliament seriously.
I'd also say that the parliament does a better job of holding the executive to account than the Dail does.
The EU does not work like a nation state, with an elected government, because it isn't. We've never said that we wanted it to be.
Ireland’s Voting Weight under Lisbon
Posted at 12:06 pm by Hugh HamillIt seems Sinn Féin are going to be the latest party to propagate the voting weight myth, with a new poster that claims the following voting weights under Lisbon:
Germany 17%, Britain 12%, Ireland 0.8%.
This quite accurately describes the 'population' requirement of Double Majority QMV, however it is a lie of omission as it does not tell the full story.
Click below the fold to find out the real deal...
Updated to remove mistaken info [16-09-2009]
The Observer on Heaney and Lisbon
Posted at 12:05 am by Conor Slowey"Seamus Heaney launches fierce attack on Irish opponents of Lisbon Treaty", reported the Observer Sunday. Seamus Heaney was interviewed by the Observer, and said that:
" "The reasons for voting 'no' are manufactured, on the whole. And if it's 'no' again, I think we have lost ourselves in the modern world."
Europe was "more than a bureaucracy, it's an ideal," he said. "The word 'Europe' is one of the first cultural underpinnings to our lives in this part of the globe. It's for Greece, Italy, Rome, England, France that I feel it." He also dismissed claims that the Lisbon Treaty would end Irish sovereignty and see the republic absorbed into a European super-state. "
The Charter of Fundamental Rights
Posted at 7:23 pm by Conor SloweyOne of the biggest changes the Lisbon Treaty makes, is to enshrine the Charter of Fundamental Rights as part of Treaty law - you can find it here (PDF). It's based on the European Convention of Human Rights (which is the product of the Council of Europe, which is separate from the EU), which the EU would also sign up to if Lisbon is ratified. Though the European Court of Justice has drawn on the ECHR as being part of the legal culture of Europe, this would be the first time that these rights will be part of the EU's primary law, along with the four freedoms (of goods, services, people and capital) that underpin the single market.
The aim of enshrining these rights is to boost the social side of the EU, and to make its laws more responsive to human rights and workers' rights. Though the EU has long had a positive impact on gender equality and other rights, the Charter is a response to the criticism that the economic rather than human elements of the single market dominate the EU's law making. The Charter will only apply to EU law, and national laws that implement EU laws - so it can't be used to expand the EU's powers or competences (it even says so explicitly in Article 51(2)).