Pave: No End In Sight Redux

Le jour 397 de Sarko

Thanks to this success, for it is a success, France is back in Europe.

Sarko,
Président de la République française,
relocating France by end-running the French people
upon French parliamentary ratification of the Lisbon Treaty
February 14, 2008 (France24/AFP)

ABORTION LAWS MAY BE IN THE BALANCE
AS IRELAND PREPARES FOR EUROPEAN TREATY REFERENDUM

DUBLIN June 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Irish Referendum Commission has declared that ratification of the new European Constitution, now being called the Lisbon Treaty, will not lead to the country being forced to legalize abortion. The Commission has been accused by groups promoting greater democracy in the EU of misrepresenting the facts.

... Some pro-life people in Ireland maintain that ratification of the Treaty will result in Ireland being forced to relinquish its constitutional protections for the unborn. On April 16, the organisation Pro-Life Campaign issued a media release condemning pressure from the Council of Europe for Ireland to relax its abortion law. The Council of Europe, while not possessing legislative powers over the EU, is the oldest and most influential of the pan-European bodies.

In early May, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe demanded that its 47 member states "legalize abortion if they have not done so". Abortion remains illegal in the Republic of Ireland, one of the few countries in the European Union to retain meaningful restrictions. Although the Assembly's resolution is non-binding on member states, it puts pressure on the Council of Europe to make abortion an unconditional "right". Such a resolution has a certain moral force, and can be used to pressure countries such as Ireland, Poland and Malta into establishing a "right to abortion."

We would maintain that such resolutions have no "moral force" whatsoever. They are issued by a political body, not a moral authority. A better word choice would be "political force" or "persistent coercive power".

EU FACES GRIDLOCK AFTER IRELAND REJECTS LISBON TREATY

BRUSSELS/DUBLIN June 14, 2008 (Bloomberg) - Irish voters shot down the Lisbon Treaty in a referendum two days ago by 53.4 percent to 46.6 percent, vetoing a deal that required approval by all 27 EU countries, according to results announced yesterday in Dublin. The rebuff turns next week's EU summit in Brussels into a crisis-management exercise, overshadowing efforts to tackle soaring food and energy costs.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker:

It was a bad choice for Europe.

There's no Plan B.

Of course there's a Plan B.

European leaders vowed to press on with ratification of the 277-page rulebook, which is intended to streamline the bloc's decision-making machinery, while conceding they were in "uncharted territory.''

This is an improvement over the original 465-page constitution (and this little EU publication). Nonetheless, when a "277-page rulebook" streamlines governance it suggests to us that there is too much governance to streamline in the first place.

If you aren't conversant with EU-lingo, "uncharted territory'' means the eurocrats are still working on a cheat.

Then this:

In theory, one option is for the rest of the EU to form a "union within a union'' that sets policies based on the new treaty, then asks Ireland to go along or stand aside, said Peter Ludlow, a historian and chairman of EuroComment, a Brussels-based publisher.

Strong meat from Mr. Ludlow, who goes on to dismiss the trifle of the Irish electorate. This is the highhat attitude that the Irish electorate has just voted against.

This time 'No' means 'No' and there should be no rerun as in Nice 2.* In particular, there should be no statements that "the people" were not fully informed and did not know what they were voting on.

What part of 'No' do the political leaders not understand?

The 'No' result shows a clear difference of opinion between powerful and ordinary people. Wouldn't it have been very unwise, then, to allow the powerful EU to decide everything according to their own agenda and exclude ordinary people from future decision making?

This is exactly what happened in 26 EU countries regarding the Lisbon Treaty.

The powerful people did not ask the ordinary good people what they thought. Thank God for the wisdom of the ordinary good people of Ireland. I think many ordinary good people around Europe will be delighted with this result.

Name Withheld,
of Carrick On Shannon, in a letter to the editor
June, 14 2008 (independent.ie)

And here another county heard from:

We are all very affected by the decision you were asked to make about the new European Treaty. And what do you do? You don't even use your democratic right to vote.

How difficult can it be? You sit down for two hours and seek information about the Lisbon Treaty. Then you make an informed decision.

Or you listen to people that you trust and do what they advocate.

But obviously that was too difficult for you.

... To put such a complex treaty document to the people, knowing it was beyond the understanding of most ordinary folk, was nothing less than farcical.

... What next? I hope the other 26 states happy with Lisbon go ahead and leave us outside the door.

Niall Ginty,
of Demesne Killester, Dublin,
an "ordinary folk" in a letter to the editor
June, 14 2008 (independent.ie)

Mr. Ginty's sputterings are revealing. Ireland votes down his treaty, Mr. Ginty believes this is a failure to exercise the democratic right to vote for what he likes. Mr. Ginty's idea of democracy is to "listen to people that you trust and do what they advocate". Sadly for Mr. Ginty, 53+% of Thursday's voters don't trust his crew of trusted mandarins. Ever the good sport, Mr. Ginty closes wishing Ireland, his homeland, all the worst for not voting his druthers.

Meanwhile France takes stock of the situation.

FRANCE SAYS IRISH "NO" VOTE SHOULD NOT SPARK CRISIS

PARIS June 14, 2008 (Reuters) - Irish voters' rejection of a new European Union treaty should not be allowed to develop into a crisis, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Saturday, calling for the ratification process to continue elsewhere.

FRANCE'S LAGARDE: DIFFICULT TO IMPLEMENT LISBON TREATY

JEJU, South Korea, June 15, 2008 (Guardian/Reuters) - France's finance minister has strong hopes that the European Union will soon have another treaty on reforms to replace one rejected by Irish voters.

You see, Plan B -- several Plan Bs -- all moving along nicely.

Here is the situation in a nutshell. The treaty requires unanimity to bring it into force. One dissent sinks it. Ireland has dissented. Parliamentary rubberstampings by the remaining 26 member states cannot enact this treaty.

That is the end of it. Unless you cheat.

------------------------------------
* In 2001 Ireland voted down the Nice Treaty, adopting it a year later after winning concessions. "Ironically, the EU will have to function on the basis of that deeply flawed text until the Lisbon problem is ironed out."

PFFT (What is this?): Better voters not vote 3½ | Crise ? Quelle crise ? ½ | Rayonnement français 0

Posted by Damian at June 15, 2008 09:30 AM