Madam, – The referendum on the Lisbon Treaty will be treated, by our fellow member countries in the EU as a call for a vote of confidence in Ireland’s membership of the Union. Consequently, a No vote will be seen as a vote of no confidence by Ireland in the EU, and a Yes as a vote of confidence by Ireland in the EU. The rest of Europe is looking closely at how we vote/regard our membership of the European Union. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The Yes camp has been just as disingenuous as the No camp on Lisbon. The Yeses approve the central EU project: to drain nationalism out of European politics, remembering the continent’s bloody past. But they are no longer admitting what this has meant and must mean. It has meant co-operation between states, of course. But it has also meant displacing the state as the principal actor in many areas, in favour of the EU’s own institutions (Commission, Court and Parliament), on one hand, and a plethora of lobbying groups and special interests-NGOs and businesses-on the other.
To streamline decision-making in the Council, as Lisbon does, will reduce the power of small states. But from a Europeanist perspective this need not be a problem as the main competing visions of “Europe” are in any case well represented in the larger states and institutions.
The main point of Lisbon, as with its predecessors, is to allow trans-European interests to absorb national interests, inevitably reshaping the nation-state. On this point the Yes and No camps cannot, of course, agree, nor should they. The EU will never be a political vehicle for conserving sovereignty in its traditional nation-state form, nor is it designed to be.
The Yeses should bite the bullet and stand by the vision of Europe that has always driven Irish Europeanism. Yes, Lisbon is a messy compromise written in ugly prose. Yes, it diminishes our small State’s already diminutive role in Europe. And yes, the EU’s institutions have not so far managed convincingly to make up the democratic gap that has resulted from its evolution. In principle, this is a wonderful occasion to examine how better to fulfil Europe’s compelling vision while maintaining our democratic ideals. Indeed Ireland can do Europe a favour in this referendum precisely by raising and debating these hard questions. To do so would certainly be an improvement on smugness and mudslinging. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Áine Ní Chonaill (September 29th) excoriates the Charter of Fundamental Rights for forcing countries to “share asylum seekers”. She is wrong in her assertions and this is yet another example of how redundant the Immigration “Control” Platform are in society. Áine Ní Chonaill and her organisation’s thoughts echo the disgusting rhetoric of Robert Mugabe.
This regressive notion is exactly the reason why Irish people have become disillusioned with the No side of the argument. Immigration is to be encouraged in so far as possible. Perhaps if Ms Ní Chonaill and her xenophobic organisation backed out of the No campaign, we would be flying victory flags over the EU buildings on Friday. – Yours etc,
COLM LAWLESS,
Cypress Downs,
Templeogue, Dublin 6W.
Madam, – The European Union has great potential to be a force for good in this continent and this world. We can see some of this potential realised in the role it has played in preventing major wars on its territory since 1945, and more recently in the lead role it has played on matters environmental. But today, the EU is suffering from a legitimation crisis, a “democratic deficit” of huge proportions. Since the Enlightenment, the idea of self-rule by free and equal citizens has been the cornerstone of European democracy. Constitutions can give expression to this idea of shared freedom and thus serve as the basis for democratic institutions.
They can, however, only do so if we have reason to believe that the constitutions are understandable and acceptable to the citizens.
The Lisbon Treaty is effectively the constitutional treaty for the European Union. The major part of its content has been rejected in referendums in France and the Netherlands in 2005 and in Ireland in 2008. It needs to be thoroughly revised in a transparent and democratic manner before it is brought back to the citizens of Europe for approval.
In that context, the referendum that your country is holding stands as a unique beacon of hope.
We would ask Irish people not to vote against the Lisbon Treaty out of petty nationalism. (The island of Ireland knows all too well of what excesses of fervour about national identity can lead to, in terms of human suffering.) Be internationalists: as intellectuals from different European countries outside your borders, we are asking you to speak for us. Hundreds of millions of European citizens have been denied a voice at the ballot box: exercise that power on our behalf.
Vote against the undemocratic project of Lisbon. Vote so that all of us will be given that same right that you, rightly, have been given. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I thank the media for its coverage of Lisbon Treaty news and debates, biased and all as it is in favour of its ratification, but I suggest there are fundamental questions that are not being answered.
How many Irish voters know the name of their own MEPs? What does the ordinary voter know about Europe or what goes on in Brussels in his/her name? What is being voted on, or legislated on, in his/her name? Surely the very least that Irish MEPs should do is keep their constituents regularly informed of what is being done in their names in Brussels? It’s contemptible that the only time we hear from our MEPs is at election time! About two months ago, during our pharmacies dispute, I wrote to the EU Commissioner for Competition, and to each of our 12 MEPs, querying the obvious lack of competition between our Irish prices for drugs and medicines and those prices prevailing in Europe, particularly in Spain.
The Commissioner acknowledged my letter, but I haven’t heard from her, or from any of our MEPs, since. What better example of “democratic deficit” is needed? No, No, No. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – One of the false claims put forward by the No side in the Lisbon debate is that Ireland will lose influence when it comes to decision-making. I would like to set the record straight by giving the actual figures.
In the European Parliament approximately 850,000 German citizens elect one MEP, approximately 750,000 British citizens elect one MEP, approximately. 350,000 Irish citizens elect one MEP. From this it is clear that in the Parliament the influence of a vote from an Irish citizen is much greater than that of a British or a German citizen.
In the European Commission, each country has one Commissioner and this will continue to be the case under Lisbon. Ireland, with a population of four million people will have one Commissioner while Germany with 80 million people will have one Commissioner also. Once again Ireland’s influence is maintained.
Currently, under qualified majority voting in the European Council, there are two criteria. Ireland has seven votes out of a total of 345 – just under 2 per cent of the vote. The second criterion is that the number of votes cast must also represent at least 62 per cent of the Union’s population.
Under Lisbon there are two criteria for a qualified majority vote also. At least 15 countries must support the decision. Each country has one vote so Ireland has one out of 27 votes which is almost 4 per cent of the vote (double what it had beforehand). The second criterion is that the number of votes cast must represent 65 per cent of the population of the Union, a slight increase from 62 per cent currently but negligible when you compare it to the fact that Ireland’s influence has doubled in the Council.
These facts illustrate that as a small country, Ireland, like other small countries has increased decision-making influence under Lisbon rather than the other way around. To those who say that the countries with larger populations have doubled their influence – I would point out the following. The six biggest countries, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, UK and France make up more than 70 per cent of the population of the EU. If all six agreed on an item under qualified majority voting, even though they represent 70 per cent of the population, they would still require a further nine countries to agree with them before it could be passed. In voting terms small countries in the EU exert considerable influence. That will increase under Lisbon. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – A recent poster from the Green Party states: “We can’t fight climate change alone. Vote Yes for Lisbon”. This implies that to vote against Lisbon will affect climate change, which is untrue. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Those who urge us to vote Yes to the Lisbon Treaty assure us it will make only minor changes to existing treaties and that it is merely about making the EU more efficient. This does not square with the Supreme Court decision in the Crotty challenge (1987). The judges observed that the initial treaty we signed implied that the European Community had to change and evolve to reach agreed objectives, therefore such changes did not require that the people be consulted again. Neither did such changes require Dáil ratification. “So far as treaties or international agreements are concerned (Article 29) the terms shall have been approved by Dáil Éireann . . . save where the agreements or conventions are of a technical and administrative character” (my emphasis). It was only on the grounds of the transfer and diminution of Irish sovereignty by the proposed treaty that the Crotty referendum challenge was allowed and the right to a referendum confirmed.
It follows that the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty signals a further transfer of sovereignty to the EU. The Supreme Court also noted that while the Government alone can enter into binding international agreements, “All powers of government, legislative, executive and judicial, derive, under God, from the people, whose right it is to designate the rulers of the State and, in final appeal, to decide all questions of national policy, according to the requirements of the common good” (my emphasis) (Article 6.1 of the Constitution).
In the final analysis, the people of Ireland are the custodians of our Constitution. It is a huge responsibility. They and generations to come will be affected for good or ill by their decision in the referendum. Without being cajoled or bullied, they should be allowed to freely decide whether they wish to gift more power over their lives to the EU. And they need to be aware that if they vote Yes to the Lisbon Treaty they will be doing that. To make them believe otherwise is a betrayal. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I am somewhat concerned regarding the No vote and Eurotoque’s position if the referendum is rejected. In such a case, I believe that we would still be in Europe but Ireland’s status could be somewhat diminished, and we would probably not be in the decision-making circles.
Eurotoque owes its existence to the initiative of the Netherlands and Belgium, which in 1984 mobilised the great chefs of Europe to defend the quality of our food, in the face of oncoming legislation. It was felt that industrialisation would detract from the quality, flavour and nutritional qualities of our food. We won the right to lobby in Europe and funding to do so. I was representing Ireland in this large group.
Our Irish chefs were quick to join in and it is largely through Eurotoque’s efforts and constant lobbying that we still have a number of small independent butchers in Ireland. We also have skilled food producers who we support and who contribute to our many good restaurants, but these producers are constantly under threat. A concerned group joining with those of a like mind in Europe can make a greater impact. We should not risk drifting too far away. We do, however, need much more communication and information from our European representatives. We are in a democracy. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I have just received a letter from “Dáil Éireann” exhorting me to vote Yes in the treaty. This has been sent at taxpayers’ expense by a local politician who feels it necessary to help, not only me, but probably hundreds of others in South Tipperary make our decision. May I ask him to cross me off his “Christmas Card List” this year and put the 55c stamp cost towards my pension instead! – Yours, etc,