The Lisbon Treaty: Part Deux
Tags: EU, European Commission, European Parliament, European Union, Ireland, MEP, referendum, The Lisbon Treaty, The Treaty of Lisbon [Previous posts on The Lisbon Treaty can be located here.]
Good morning, lesbian land. Unless you have been living under a rock, you will be aware that a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty is (again) on its merry way. This time, on 2nd October 2009, to be exact.
I, stupidly, have decided to try my damnedest to read through the Treaty and any information I can get my grubby little mitts on, in order to try to explain to our dear readers what it’s all about. I can’t guarantee that I won’t collapse in a heap from the boredom, but I’ll do my best. I’m going to avoid discussing the Yes or No campaign arguments, or the campaign groups themselves. Rather, I’m going to do my best to discuss what’s actually contained in the Treaty itself. And if I’m really on form, I might even make it all sound interesting.. (Wish me luck..!)
I’m going to try to get through what we’re voting on this time, the guarantees on various issues that were agreed by the European governments, what the Treaty actually means, what is or is not in the Treaty, what the implications of rejecting the Treaty might be; and anything else that might crop up along the way!
There are plenty of other bloggers, websites, facebook groups, etc., who are focussed either on the arguments one way or another, or who are discussing the groups involved on either side of the debate. I might be able to address some of the arguments in reference to the Treaty’s contents, but that’ll be about as far as I go!
If you want to check out some of the interest groups involved in campaigning, MamanPoulet is running an excellent series of articles on some of the groups you’ve never heard of (and some you have). Also worth casting your eye over might be Slugger O’Toole, IrishElection, Jason O’Mahoney. Also keep an eye 
on IrishBlogs.ie to find out what the Irish blogosphere is saying. (Do let me know in the comments if I’m leaving anyone out!)
For authoritative, impartial information about the Treaty, the Referendum Commission has set up a website dedicated to bringing you factual and easy-to-understand information about the Treaty.
In addition, the EU Commission has produced a Guide to the Lisbon Treaty, which distils down the main aspects of the Treaty into just fifteen pages. The Commission is also actively running a campaign around Ireland to engage with Irish citizens at local level, called talktoeu (also on Twitter and Facebook – and they really do reply!). Last I heard, the top female civil servant of the EU, Margaret Wallström, was due to speak at a meeting in Athlone this Wednesday (10th September). (The EU Commission can also be contacted through their office in Dublin – and on Twitter – or contact them directly in Brussels.)
Finally, if you’re a real sucker for punishment, or if you have trouble with insomnia, here you yourself can read the full text of the Lisbon Treaty and/or the consolidated version of the EU treaties (i.e. what the documents governing the EU will look like after the Lisbon Treaty’s amendments are taken into account).
So, stay tuned!
Popularity: 1% [?]
Loading ...
[...] it is an honest effort at clarity you are after (not a given in this debate) then Gaelick promises to be that place. As long as they can stay awake. Another observant of the race, The [...]
What I don’t get is whay people aren’t more annoyed at having to vote again. Do we believe in domocracy or not?
Even if a referendum comes up with something I disagree with I still believe in domocracy and believe the wishes of the majority should be followed.
You can’t just keep voting till you get your way
Also, I have a question, are the no campaign posters about the minimum wage true? I find them very hard to believe
No, Carol, the claim that Europe will implement that minimum wage is a baseless lie. Individual member states set their own national minimum wages. The European Court of Justice decisions referred to by Cóir when they are asked to validate this claim had nothing to do with harmonising or restricting national minimum wage rates. Also, such a drastic reduction of pay would violate the Fundamental Charter of Rights which becomes binding on all institutions of the EU if Lisbon is ratified, e.g. the Commission (which generates legislation) and the European Court of Justice (which adjudicates on the validity of impugned community legislation).
I would take EVERYTHING printed on No posters with a massive barrel of salt – these are extremist groups with their own agendas and are not averse to lying and manipulating people to get a no vote.
@Carol – I can understand reservations some people had at a second vote. However, the democratic argument doesn’t completely convince me: the fact that the majority of “No” voters voted that way because they didn’t understand the Treaty or because they believed the lies of certain campaigners (about abortion, taxation, neutrality being changed by the Treaty). If anything, I would say that it’s better to go back to the people so that a fully informed vote can be cast.
(Also, legally, holding a second referendum is acceptable – according to the High Court in Ireland and the Constitutional court of Germany, and I think possibly in France.)
Pleace vote for democracy and against the treaty of lisbon
Dear irish people!
Pleace stop the treaty of lisbon! Is is antidemocartic, militaristic, antisocial. The disadvantages are much bigger, than the advantages. The EU can live with its actuell laws. They should only be changed into a democratic direction. With the treaty of lisbon, the european council is able to change this treaty in great parts without asking the parliament. This is nearly the same law, which mades the nationl- rassistic- party of Germany so powerfull in our country in the year 1933. Our basic law (the german constitution) and all other european constitutions should not be replaced by the treaty of lisbon. But the new treaty tries to bring all right- sytstems in a lower level than the new european right. Here is my informationpage: http://sites.google.com/site/euradevormwald/english . When you have some more english information, pleace send me a link or text or write it into the visitors book of my page. And pleace spread this text all over Ireland.
In the hope in your activities for a better Europe, Felix Staratschek, Freiligrathstr. 2, D- 42477 Radevormwald (Germany)
It’s interesting that you should make an allusion to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party by reference to 1933 (it’s also a good example of Godwin’s law of Nazi analogies).
Given that what is now the EU was first established as a direct result of the horrors of the Nazi regime and WWII, and in order to ensure that it could never be in any European country’s interests to act in such ways again, I find your claim to be highly implausible.
But thanks for the comment!
: )
Apperently the thing with the mimimum wage came from a lithunian company which was operating in Sweden and who were paying their workers the Lithunian minimum wage – the only reason they were able to do that was because Sweden had no miminum wage at the time – that was hurredly changed, but regardless, it could never be enforced in Ireland as we do have a mimimum wage set into our national laws, a matter which Europe has no influence on.
Just one example of why Coir are lying, deceitful f***ers.
That’s what I’ve heard, too, re. the minimum wage issue.
I haven’t read the judgement myself, but the European Court of Justice reached that verdict on the facts and on the question that the Swedish court would have referred to them.
It seems to have been a specific case, judged on the particular facts as they were.
It’s not a ruling that has general applicability, and certainly – given that it’s an already existing judgement and it’s from that court – it’s nothing to do with the content of the Lisbon Treaty, regardless of your view of the court’s decision.