Tuesday, December 18, 2007

A Bastard Treaty

Dan Hannan nails the status of the Treaty of Lisbon.
In reviving the European Constitution despite the French and Dutch "No" votes, the EU is breaking with constitutional propriety and democratic accountability. The re-adoption of the text in Lisbon today was not simply an act of revolting necrophilia; it was also a gesture of supreme contempt for the voters.

Oh, Daniel; don't you understand? It was obvious that the French and Dutch only voted the thing down because they wanted "more Europe", not less. T'choh. I would have thought that you'd have got that by now.
While the process might still have a measure of technical legality—in the sense that all 27 governments will ratify the new draft—it has no true legitimacy. The constitution doesn’t simply lack a mandate; it has been expressly rejected in the ballot box—twice.

And of course, something that is not legitimate is illigitemate and so I name the Treaty of Lisbon "the Bastard Constitution".

Still, as Guido points out, maybe all 27 countries won't ratify it.
Whereas once before in distant European history the Irish preserved documents to save Europe from barbarians, Ireland could now vote down a document and save Europe from the bureaucrats. Ireland, alone of all the nations of Europe, will hold a referendum on the Constitutional Treaty...

Ireland's constitution demands that there is a referendum on the EU Constitution and so, out of all 27 countries in the EU, only the Irish people will have a say (which, terrifyingly, puts us in the hands of cunts like Twenty).

Still, the Irish may yet vote against it and, so, what do you want to bet that there will be a whole lot of bonus EU funding announced for the Republic just before the vote?


Twenty Major said...

You're my wives now, Dave.

Newmania said...

Damn Straight

Mark Wadsworth said...

You saved the bad news to the end.

"there will be a whole lot of bonus EU funding announced for the Republic just before the vote"

That's a statement, not a question, eh?

mitch said...

How about tax free status for Irish whiskey and potatoes ??.

Martin Keegan said...

I prefer to name the Lisbon treaty the Shadow Constitution.

Anyway, more needs to be done to oppose the referendumless ratification of the Treaty by the UK. We should campaign for criminalising the act of voting to invoke Article IV 7a while being a UK government minister.

(blast, IV 7a has been renumbered in the new treaty, but at any rate it's a mechanism whereby national ministers can unanimously agree to abolish vetos over policy areas)

verity said...

Gordon Brown hasn't even been elected, so I don't see how his signature can be legal in a "democratic" (snigger) country.

Sad about the craven silence from the Tories. We'd have heard quite a lot about it were Davis the Leader, but Cameron is on the dark side. His loyalty is to the nomenklatura - the ruling class - no matter what their nationality.

On a ranking, I loathe Tony Blair more than any person currently walking our planet. Bar none. Next, I can't decide between Gordon Brown and David Cameron for the Number Two spot. Cameron's smug, happy little face may push me over the edge into naming him Number Two, though.

Paddy, Dublin said...

"a whole lot of bonus EU funding announced for the Republic just before the vote?..."

That, and a whole lot of other high-pressure selling/coercion to force a Yes vote. The eurocrats see Ireland as a battleground. So much for democracy.

If the rest of the EU has no vote, maybe they'll come over here and help the No vote?!

Moonbat still loony
