Independent.ie

By Address with Editor

Tuesday June 24 2008

IRELAND, using what the whole of Ireland thought was a democratic system, has said a clear ‘NO’ to the Lisbon Treaty. Others might disagree as to the outcome of the vote Ireland had, but still that vote took place with voters thinking that their wishes would be respected. It looks like the voters, as far as you’re concerned Mr Cowen, were wrong.

You have decided to say the equivalent of “stuff ye all” and do what EU bullies are telling you to do. You are second-grading the voices of the population that has placed you in the position of power you hold. It appears you have decided to force the Irish people to vote again because you didn’t like the result the first time!

If you cannot represent the thoughts and wishes of the people on this island called Ireland Mr Cowen, then it’s time for you to go. You are supposed to be working for the people of Ireland, not the thugs and bullies of the EU, particularly French President Sarkozy and Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Using a supposed democratic legal system, the Irish people were given a choice. Now, because your real masters are not happy with our decision you have, it appears, decided to totally ignore the voters, bide your time and try in a while to shove another vote on the Irish people again.

This is no longer about who is right and wrong in a ‘YES or ‘NO’ vote. This is about representing the people that voted in what they thought was a democratic vote. You will be a disgrace to the system of democracy with a forced re-vote. This is about having the courage to stand up to the thug bullies of Europe and say “No, you cannot push us around!”

They all agreed and signed up to a legally binding democratic system. Now that it hasn’t gone their way, they want to force the little voters of Ireland into giving them their way. Every child in Europe’s playgrounds knows that’s called bullying! Are you Mr Cowen, turning a blind eye to their attempts at pushing the people of this island around? Are you going to stand up and actually do something about it?

Mr Cowen, if you and Fianna Fail decide to force a second vote on us, here is a message from the people of Ireland… Do the decent thing — quit.

Address with Editor

EU leaders don’t take Irish ‘No’ for an answer

Respect the Irish Vote: Aftershock in European Parliament

Here are links to LIVE RESULTS:

1. RTE on renamed EU constitution, a.k.a. The Lisbon Treaty that wasn’t…
2. The Irish Times on the same piece of treason…

ADDITIONS:
No side leading across Ireland
Irish voters set to reject Lisbon Treaty

It just had to happen. Finnish, Estonian and Greek parliaments have today proved for the last time before the Irish spectacle that current European national political elites have flown far, far away from their electorates.

Shame on them, shame on us for having such representatives.

A large majority of Finnish deputies – 151 out of 200 – on Wednesday (11 June) voted in favour of the document, while 27 opposed it and 21 were absent, according to AFP news agency.

A little later on Wednesday afternoon, the Estonian parliament also approved the Lisbon treaty. Its vote was almost unanimous: 91 votes in favour and one against. Nine MPs abstained.

The Greek parliament ratified the Lisbon treaty with 250 to 42 votes late on Wednesday, just hours before Irish citizens vote on the document. With Greece, 2/3 of EU states have started or completed the treaty’s ratification.

More on that in EUobserver.

By Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor of Telegraph

British voters would back radical moves to negotiate a new, looser relationship with the European Union, a survey has shown.

The Sunday Telegraph reported on a new ICM poll for Global Vision, which found that when British voters were asked about their ideal relationship with Europe, 41 per cent chose one based simply on trade and co-operation.

Some 27 per cent wanted Britain to stay a full EU member while 26 per cent wanted to withdraw altogether.

If the “trade-only” option were offered in a referendum, 64 per cent said they would vote in favour.

Asked what should happen if Britain sought to negotiate a looser relationship but other nations blocked the move, 57 per cent said the UK should leave the EU, while 33 per cent said it should stay in.

As foretold before the results of the polls went upside down. From today the YES side has the lower hand with 30% while the NO side rose up to 35%.

Irish Times reports:

The poll shows the number of people intending to vote No has almost doubled to 35 per cent (up 17 points) since the last poll three weeks ago, while the number of the Yes side has declined to 30 per cent (down 5 points).

The number of undecided voters is still a significant 28 per cent (down 12 points) while 7 per cent won’t vote.

Future days until June 12th will be filled with different activities in Europe and Ireland. Europe will start its football “circensem” on Saturday, Mr. Bush will represent USA in summit with EU in Slovenia on Monday and Tuesday. Thursday seems so far away. TEAM encourages people of both in Ireland and Europe to do their best in this coming week and to make this a historic NO for empires and YES for the people’s democracies.

Opinion poll shows huge rise in anti-Lisbon sentiment
New poll shows Yes strategy has backfired, says No group
Latest Irish poll shows EU treaty heading for defeat
Art-exhibition in Slovenia: “Overheard Focuses”

ADDITION:

How we can once more save Europe from the Dark Ages
Lisbon treaty poised on a knife edge
Irish voters poised to kill off EU ‘stealth constitution’
Lisbon would be a giant leap in the dark
Cowen must not yield to Yes blackmail

by Laurent Dauré & Dominique Guillemin

On February 4th, the French Parliament voted in the bill modifying title XV of the French Constitution in Versailles, and three days later, on February 7th, the Treaty of Lisbon was formally ratified.

The Lisbon Treaty, which provides for the reform of the EU’s institutions, was drawn up to replace the draft European constitution, which was first rejected on May 29th, 2005 by 55% of French voters and then on June 1st, 2005 by 61% of Dutch voters.

How did we go from the voters’ refusals to the adoption of the text by Parliament in 2008? Before the 2005 public vote, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, chief author of the constitution, declared: “It is a good idea to have chosen the referendum, so long as the outcome is yes.”(1) And one year later: “The rejection of the constitution was a mistake which will have to be corrected.”(2) In spite of the French and Dutch NOs, some countries did adopt a constitution which had little chance of success, an indication that the initial project was not amendable: “If it’s a Yes, we will say ‘On we go’, and if it’s a No we will say ‘We continue.’ (…) If at the end of the ratification process, we do not manage to solve the problems, the countries that would have said ‘No,’ would have to ask themselves the question again.”(3)