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Letters | Sunday, 11 October 2009

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The Irish vote on the EU Treaty

As luck of the Irish would have it, the resourceful Irish nation is the only nation in the EU which was privileged (as stipulated by their own Constitution) to vote “for” or “against” the Treaty of Europe. The little nation of Malta did not have such a luxury on such an important issue, because our representatives feel that we are incapable to make such a decision ourselves, and so they voted on our behalf.
And for that matter, this also applies to the other nations of Europe, i.e., the citizens of the respective countries were not trusted to make their own decision, but it is left to the EU parliamentarians to decide. The Irish nation must consider itself very lucky to be granted such a privilege. Every EU citizen should actually have the right to vote on such an important Treaty.
It turns out, however, that the Irish nation had already voted on this issue just some months ago, and the majority had voted “NO” to the Treaty of Europe. But the EU did not take “NO” for an answer, and perhaps also thinking that the Irish are mentally deficient, and may have made a mistake in voting “NO”, they gave the Irish another chance, but this time to vote “YES”.
To ensure that the Irish votes “YES”, the EU have made certain special concessions to the Irish nation, promised to assist them in the current turmoil of global recession (of which also the whole EU is suffering), and threatened that if the answer is no, then none or limited assistance will be provided. Under such circumstances, could the resoluteness of the Irish be bribed, threatened, yield, or will it be steadfast in its determination?
The Irish nation was coerced to be divided once more between the “NO” and “YES” camps as if Ireland had not suffered enough bloodshed with religious and political infighting, and having reaped the benefits of peace, once more they were intimidated into another internal conflict.
After all is said and done, it is obvious that the so called European Treaty is nothing more than a modification of its predecessor i.e. the European Constitution, which had been rejected by the majority of the citizens of France, and Holland (and there was a good chance that it would have also been rejected by the British and other nations if they had been allowed to vote on it).
Thus, despite the fact that the outcome of the Irish vote on this subject have recently favoured the “YES” vote, the EU cannot push this so called EU Treaty down EU citizens’ throats unless it is rectified by the citizens of Europe. If this (the later) is not done, the EU Treaty cannot be considered as a Treaty by, from, and for the European citizens, but a Treaty by EU bureaucrats, from EU bureaucrats, for EU politicians (with or without the Irish blessings).


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