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| The Behaviour Of European Politicians After The Irish Referendum Has Been Shameful |
| EU politicians and leaders of member states should be ashamed of themselves for so clearly dismissing the verdict of the Irish people, who voted to reject the Lisbon Treaty. This Treaty was the EU's blatant attempt to revive the Constitution which had already been rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005. Political leaders like Britain's Gordon Brown, France's Nicolas Sarkozy and the European Commission's Manuel Barroso have all indicated that the Treaty--aimed at giving the EU more powers--should go ahead, regardless of what voters think. They clearly have no respect for democracy. |
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I agree, Yet with all the dumbing down that has been going on we have a country full 'o people who
don't give a hoot .Voter apathy is at an all time high. It should be made compulsory to vote.
If people weren't so conditioned by the media especially TV we might have a chance of electing
proper representatives instead of this lot, and their EU counterparts.
Big Brother isn't popular with right minded people. |
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As always mack I probably have a simplified view on this but I think you have nailed it. How can we
criticise Mugabees ideal of democracy when ours is idealistically not much different? Come back when
you vote the right way. The most right wing party in Britain is actually the only one that warned us
away from what has come to pass. Ireland may well find itself placed in a metaphoric prison by the
European super state for its failure to conform. |
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British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's behaviour following the Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty
takes the prize when it comes to slimy, two-faced and hypocritical politics. Brown, who had
previously promised to hold a referendum in Britain on any European constitution, cowardly backed
out of his pledge, because he did not want to lose his stature in Brussels, if the British were to
reject any such attempt at giving the EU more power. Now that the Irish have rejected the Treaty as
well, Brown's solution is to go on with business as usual, as if nothing ever happened. This
approach is especially nonsensical, considering that every EU politician had previously agreed that
the Treaty must be ratified by each and every member state for it to come into effect. Otherwise, it
would be dead in the water.
Sarkozy, Barroso and most EU leaders also embrace Brown's approach, and some have even suggested
that the Irish should be forced to vote again, until they get it right. Even if EU leaders are
topnotch when it comes to deluding themselves and living in a safe, comfy and protective glass
bubble in Brussels--which cannot be punctured by that nasty concept in democratic systems concerning
the will of the voting public--the rest of the world will be even less prone to take the sham union
and their delusional leaders seriously, after their most recent display of childish arrogance.
Ironically, one of the only leading politicians to actually grasp the meaning of a democracy is from
the formerly Communist eastern half of the continent. Czech President Vaclav Klaus was sober enough
to read the tea leaves and understand that the Lisbon Treaty had been rejected by voters. It would
also be rejected in most other EU states, if politicians would dare put it up for referendum. To
most European leaders, however, voters are simply a nuisance. |
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It would be a curious definition of democracy if 3-4 million Irish people were allowed to decide on
the future of a European Union consisting of 300-400 million people.
I don't see anything shameful about the reaction. The people's of Europe, at a minimum, have an
input into the process by choosing their own national governments. One of Margaret Thatcher's few
worthwhile observations was the referendums were the tools of demagogues and dictators. Listening to
media interviews with some of the Irish people who voted no, it's hard to take their votes
seriously. Most of them had no clue what the treaty even contained, much less had any well-thought
out objections to it.
No one has suggested forcing the people of Ireland to do anything. But they shouldn't be allowed to
stop others from doing what they want to do, either. A multi-faceted European Union, in which
subsets of countries agree to the deeper levels of integration they feel comfortable with, seems the
obvious solution. |
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Much as I appreciate the sentiment, and indeed the European leaders have shown a certain scorn for
the people, I disagree that their actions have been shameful or even undesirable.
Democracy and letting the people have power is a desirable aim, but not the only desirable aim. We
live in a series of representative democracies because we accept that the people do not always know
what is good for them and we need a set of elected representatives to protect things like minority
rights.
The EU treaty has been rejected largely because of an uninformed eurosceptical majority who
erroneously believe that the EU intends to steal liberties and fails to realise the influence it
already has on their nations. The Irish No campaign was particularly guilty of campaigning that was
at least potentially libellous and slanderous.
Were people to have read the treaty and compared it to what already exists they would likely have
changed their minds. However, people do not have time to discuss and debate the minutia of policy,
this is why we elect a series of people whose jobs it is to do this for us. We must trust them to
make the right decisions, at least on occasion.
EDIT: To answer 2Free: Indeed I would argue that referendums on issues that people vote emotively
and not rationally or fact based are errors. The Irish constitution requires a referendum but this
does not mean that it helps their country.
If we accept representative democracy then we accept that the people delegate their power to elected
officials. Whilst the peoples views should still be considered they should not be the only
considerations. |
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 For and Against Recent Activity
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15 Jun 2008 08:16
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