My Little World10

So unsurprisingly the Irish rejected the Lisbon Treaty that has been hanging around like a bad smell for about 3 years, the ghost of the EU constitution that was killed by the French and Dutch before it made Tony Blair blush

now firstly - i am not a right wing hater of the EU, neither are the Irish - they like the EU, and they're in the Euro, they just didn't like this treaty

the pro-Lisbon lobby will see this as an attack by the ignorant haters of progress, but was it really?

the Lisbon Treaty is a remnant of the failed constitution, which was rejected by the FRENCH for god's sake, thus saving Britain from any responsibility and stopping us being the villain - now the treaty is just a partially watered down version of the constitution (as admitted by every european leader bar Brown) - so do you really think the French, and the Dutch, who voted against it in the first place, accepted the 'treaty' instead?

the answer is of course they didn't, why do you think they haven't bothered with a referendum again? (and no it's not because it's just a treaty, that's the whole reason for doing it as a treaty though)

so basically the european leaders refused to accept defeat and kept pushing, as they did back in 92 - you really think that convinces people like the french to support the thing instead? - no, because it smacks of being undemocratic and elitist bigots in brussels forcing through unpopular constitutional changes

now we british of course love to associate the EU with the dirty french, and we love to feel victimised by seeing them as the big bad guy in the EU who are orchestrating our downfall, so french opposition to it is a particular boost to british euro-scepticism

so we're actually in tune with our old enemy, or at least its people - and that's my main point, it's not that the EU is doomed - look around Europe, and more importantly western europe, the big boys and you see solidarity - the Irish are heroes in the netherlands and denmark, being called 'heroes of democracy' - this is not just the british refusing to play along as we are so often told - the people of europe do not want this and that is what my title refers to - europe is actually united on a popular level, against the actions of the EU - ironic huh?

the french, dutch, british, danish, germans etc do not resent Ireland, and they do not hate each other - we're all in the Union and the desire to remain in it is still the majority feeling but the anger is against the so-called bureaucrats and fat cats sat in brussels trying to make the EU into something that most of the European people do not want - this isn't just some brits resentful of the EU - it's a popular feeling across europe

and that to me is a good thing - i see solidarity and unity across europe, all because these people want to keep their sovereignty - allies, yes, but not a super state - the liberal consesus across (at least western) europe remains and the willingness to co-operate is there, but they don't want more power in brussels, they want europe to be a happy, but individual place

and that is why I, and many people across europe thank the Irish for voting No on this bollocks, because this treaty has been attempted to be implemented through the back door, against the wishes of the people and is thoroughly undemocratic

i guess this appears fairly right wing - but as you can see my main opposition is the whole undemocratic thing, this should be a consesus of opinion, not pushed through by politicians who think it's right

they're arrogant and won't concede defeat - they don't want a decade of work flushed down the toilet and so now the issue will be what to do

two-tier europe is being bandied about, obviously for Ireland and if that were to happen almost certainly Britain - the one good thing ive heard gordon brown say (or rather his aides) has been that he won't sideline Ireland, so the two-tier thing looks pretty desperate

it's frustrating for the european politicians, they have to get 27 members to agree to something and little old Ireland, essentially a minor player with about 6 million citizens, may have put the boot in - it helps that the big boys are popularly against it too but for the EU to ignore one country, no matter how small, would undermine the whole point of it - the idea of 'one europe' would be completely destroyed were the EU to leave out the skeptics amongst its members, there needs to be agreement, from the people especially - if it's going too far and cannot progress then that's where it should be left

hopefully the Treaty will be put out of its misery (probably to return as the vienna treaty or something next year), what i want to see is the whole idea being taken back to the drawing board - it's not as if this is essential work, it's a super-national union, there's no rush or need to increase its powers - ask the people what they want, chances of them agreeing are slim but at least there will be some democracy instilled

i realise this is wholly unrealistic - the EU big wigs will simply continue to decide things their people don't like and try and force it on them - i see that as a mistake, and could well bring it down eventually and if we have to reconsider the whole EU then why not? it's not worth having something lingering over it