Most politicians hailed the outcome of the second referendum on the same Lisbon Treaty. Not surprisingly, the loudest amongst them were the Brussels Eurocrats whose proliferation and revenue are further secured by the Treaty (Apostolov 2009b, Apostolov 2009a).
Some politicians were even insolent enough to claim that the second referendum that the Irish folk was literally forced to hold is directly proportional to democracy – for example, Joseph Daul, Chairman of the centre-right EPP group in the European Parliament, is quoted as having said “This decision endorses the Lisbon Treaty and secures our common future with a more democratic and efficient European Union” (EurActiv 2009), and the Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen reportedly described the referendum outcome as a “good day for Ireland and a good day for Europe” (Doyle and Pope 2009). Not to be outdone, the Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said “It is my firm belief that the Lisbon Treaty will make the enlarged Union more democratic” (EurActiv 2009). And there are many more examples – one just needs to read the news coverage on the Irish referendum from the last couple of days.
Really, I do not understand how these people can look in a mirror without spitting at the image!
So it was democratic to rename a rejected treaty (the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe) just in order to be able to adopt it without the approval of the people that will be most affected by it?!
And it was democratic when the French and Dutch voters rejected the very same texts in 2005 but not democratic when the Irish voters did the same in 2008?
And rejecting the treaty on the first referendum was not democratic but it was democratic to threaten the Irish people that they would be kicked out from the Community (Waterfield 2008) and/or Ireland would lose its commissioner (Independent 2008) if they did not hold a second referendum that would approve the Lisbon Treaty?
And, oddly enough, using brainwashing tactics, like binding the Lisbon Treaty to some imaginary improvement in the global economic environment or job market (which the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs, pompously launched in early 2000 with the goal of “making the European Union (EU) the most competitive economy in the world and achieving full employment by 2010” (European Commission: Growth & Jobs web site) and even more pompously “relaunched” in 2005, could not do in the nine years of its existence), and the Cold-War era ideologeme “Кто не с нами, тот против нас!” (Engl. – “[Anyone] Who is not with us is against us!”), seems to be democratic, too…
There is only one thing that can be said in view of the above: all hail the crook democracy!
REFERENCES
Apostolov, S. 2009a. The Mismanagement, Corruption and Fraud of the European Institutions. [online]
URL: http://spapostolov.blogactiv.eu/2009/09/15/mismanagement-corruption-and-fraud-of-the-european-institutions/ (page last accessed on 04.10.2009).
Apostolov, S. 2009b. The Rising Pyramid. [online]
URL: http://spapostolov.blogactiv.eu/2009/07/08/the-rising-pyramid/ (page last accessed on 04.10.2009).
Doyle, K. and C. Pope. 2009. ‘A good day for Ireland’ – Cowen. Irishtimes.com. [online]
URL: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/1004/breaking3.html (page last accessed on 04.10.2009).
EurActiv. 2009. Resounding Irish ‘yes’ to EU’s Lisbon Treaty. EurActiv.com, Oct. 3, 2009. [online]
URL: http://www.euractiv.com/en/future-eu/resounding-irish-eu-lisbon-treaty/article-186051 (page last accessed on 04.10.2009).
European Commission: Growth & Jobs web site:
http://ec.europa.eu/growthandjobs/index_en.htm (page last accessed on 04.10.2009).
Independent. 2008. Treaty is our ‘only hope’ of retaining EU post. Independent.ie, Nov. 22, 2008 Issue. [online]
URL: http://www.independent.ie/national-news/treaty-is-our-only-hope-of-retaining–eu-post-1549339.html (page last accessed on 04.10.2009).
Waterfield, B. 2008. EU steps up pressure on Ireland to hold second Lisbon Treaty referendum. Telegraph.co.uk. [online]
URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/eureferendum/3173967/EU-steps-up-pressure-on-Ireland-to-hold-second-Lisbon-Treaty-referendum.html (page last accessed on 04.10.2009).
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* An abridged version of this article was published as a letter to the editor of EurActiv on October 5th, 2009. The letter can be read here.
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