Madam, - It appears to me that the biggest reason for voting for the Lisbon Treaty is precisely the reason many people in the No campaign are against it.
Yes, as No campaigners allege, the EU is a lumbering technocracy which often appears remote to the ordinary citizen. Reform is vital and in the interests of all. There is a large democratic deficit which should concern all EU citizens.
Yet the No campaign opposes the very solution to this problem: ratifying the Lisbon Treaty, which increases the powers of the European and national parliaments in legislating for Europe.
It seems to me that the No campaign is missing the wood for the trees by actually desiring to uphold the evidently flawed status quo.
- Yours, etc,
IAN M. O'MARA, Great Dover Street, London SE1.
Madam, - The confusion in the referendum debate with respect to the effect of the Lisbon Treaty on the right of individual member-states to veto EU trade agreements requires a clear response. Under the current treaties, ratification of any world trade deal would require the approval of all European member-states. This is a veto right.
Under the Lisbon Treaty, that will not change.
Furthermore, under the terms of the treaty, trade agreements will also require the approval of the European Parliament, a change which considerably extends the control of the parliament in the area of trade.
- Yours, etc,
PETER POWER, European Commission Spokesman for Trade, Brussels, Belgium.