Ireland Rejects Lisbon Treaty
On Friday, Ireland voted against the Lisbon Treaty, which although it does not officially kill the treaty, it will make it very difficult to move forward. Worried the treaty would face the same fate as the European constitution when put to a referendum in France and the Netherlands, most countries choose not to put it to a referendum including the normally Eurosceptic Britain. However, Ireland, is constitutionally required to put all international treaties to a referendum. Normally this is not an issue as Ireland is one of the more pro-EU countries.
I would have voted for the Lisbon Treaty if I could have voted on the issue, however I understand why some may oppose it. It had many positives such as applying co-decision to more issues meaning the European parliament who is directly elected would have to approve the laws not just the Council of Ministers. Although the Council of Ministers represent national governments, coalitions are the norm rather than the exception in Europe and it is quite common for parties that received less than 10% of the popular vote to have cabinet ministers, so this makes it difficult to hold them accountable for making bad decisions. In addition, coalitions are not always along ideological lines either; in fact many European countries have coalitions with parties on both the centre-right and centre-left such as Germany. At least those in the European parliament are directly elected, although unfortunatly each country must use some form of proportional representation rather than first past the post, but that is a whole different story. It would apply the principle of subsidiarity and this means if more than 1/3 of member states felt the EU was interferring in areas they don't have jurisdiction over, they could send it back to the European Commission to ask for an explanation. It would have lifted the limit on 27 member states. As it stands now Norway, Iceland, and Switzerland would not be able to join and likewise further expansion into the Balkans including countries such as Croatia who are ready to join the near future, wouldn't be able to. I believe the EU should be open to all European countries including Turkey and even beyond. It has worked well in promoting peace and prosperity amongst its members, so I am all for expanding it. In addition, the idea of a European superstate was not the intention of the treaty.
That being said, I believe the politicians should respect the results of the referendum and not proceed with ratification of the treaty. I don't believe having another referendum as they did when Denmark rejected the Maastrict Threaty or when Ireland rejected the Nice Treaty is the solution either. No should mean No, not keep on asking the question until one receives a desirable answer. Rather I believe the best solution is to adopt a Two speed Europe as I advocated in an earlier blog. It is not right for a country with less than 1% of the EU's population to scutter a treaty for those who wish to move forward with deeper integration. But neither is it right to force a country to give up more sovereignty than it is comfortable with doing so. When the EU was only a common market and had far fewer members, it was possible to have it operate in tandem, but not with 27 members and is it starts to take on many nation like characteristics. I support deeper European integration as with the United States taking a more unilateral and militaristic approach and China becoming a superpower who has a less than stellar human rights record, I believe it is necessary to have a counter-balance who believes in democracy, freedom, progressive policies, and multilateralism. And none of the EU countries on their own can achieve this, but together they can. I also can say that the EU has been of great benefit for me on a personal level. I work in the financial sector and the fact the EU has a common currency saves me about an hour in work everyday. Likewise when I travelled to Europe last year, I didn't have to switch currencies everytime I crossed national boundaries and when planning my trip time wise, I didn't have to worry about long line-ups at the borders as there are no border controls between EU countries (save Ireland and Britain).
I would have voted for the Lisbon Treaty if I could have voted on the issue, however I understand why some may oppose it. It had many positives such as applying co-decision to more issues meaning the European parliament who is directly elected would have to approve the laws not just the Council of Ministers. Although the Council of Ministers represent national governments, coalitions are the norm rather than the exception in Europe and it is quite common for parties that received less than 10% of the popular vote to have cabinet ministers, so this makes it difficult to hold them accountable for making bad decisions. In addition, coalitions are not always along ideological lines either; in fact many European countries have coalitions with parties on both the centre-right and centre-left such as Germany. At least those in the European parliament are directly elected, although unfortunatly each country must use some form of proportional representation rather than first past the post, but that is a whole different story. It would apply the principle of subsidiarity and this means if more than 1/3 of member states felt the EU was interferring in areas they don't have jurisdiction over, they could send it back to the European Commission to ask for an explanation. It would have lifted the limit on 27 member states. As it stands now Norway, Iceland, and Switzerland would not be able to join and likewise further expansion into the Balkans including countries such as Croatia who are ready to join the near future, wouldn't be able to. I believe the EU should be open to all European countries including Turkey and even beyond. It has worked well in promoting peace and prosperity amongst its members, so I am all for expanding it. In addition, the idea of a European superstate was not the intention of the treaty.
That being said, I believe the politicians should respect the results of the referendum and not proceed with ratification of the treaty. I don't believe having another referendum as they did when Denmark rejected the Maastrict Threaty or when Ireland rejected the Nice Treaty is the solution either. No should mean No, not keep on asking the question until one receives a desirable answer. Rather I believe the best solution is to adopt a Two speed Europe as I advocated in an earlier blog. It is not right for a country with less than 1% of the EU's population to scutter a treaty for those who wish to move forward with deeper integration. But neither is it right to force a country to give up more sovereignty than it is comfortable with doing so. When the EU was only a common market and had far fewer members, it was possible to have it operate in tandem, but not with 27 members and is it starts to take on many nation like characteristics. I support deeper European integration as with the United States taking a more unilateral and militaristic approach and China becoming a superpower who has a less than stellar human rights record, I believe it is necessary to have a counter-balance who believes in democracy, freedom, progressive policies, and multilateralism. And none of the EU countries on their own can achieve this, but together they can. I also can say that the EU has been of great benefit for me on a personal level. I work in the financial sector and the fact the EU has a common currency saves me about an hour in work everyday. Likewise when I travelled to Europe last year, I didn't have to switch currencies everytime I crossed national boundaries and when planning my trip time wise, I didn't have to worry about long line-ups at the borders as there are no border controls between EU countries (save Ireland and Britain).
posted by Monkey Loves to Fight at 5:49 PM
2 Comments:
Europe is one of the most reactionary elements in European politics. Budget cuts, labour «reforms», and a general expansion of capitalist exploitation is all that European Union brings. It is an instrument of economic growth in that it transcends the confines of the nation state (which is in essence a Marxist ideal, the breaking down of borders)and yes the freedoms to travel and work are amazing for everyone, but portraying the EU as a progressive force in the world falls quite a bit short of the reality of the situation.
Also many say that now the EU should respect the voice of Ireland (and some would have argued, Netherlands and France the last time around) and not go forward with the treaty because it would be undemocratic, but what is to stop other member states from wanting a more perfect union, will every change in the way the EU organises itself now be seen as an affront to democracy?
I disagree the EU is totally conservative. Much of what you describe is more a reflection of the national governments. After all the Social Democratic parties are more centrist than they were 30 years ago, while most have centre-right governments. Italy, France, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, and likely Britain soon all have elected centre-right governments at the national level. The problem is socialism doesn't work and also the fact the public isn't voting for socialist parties anymore. If anything, the member states would probably be even more right wing were it not for the EU. Just look the emergence of the xenophobic parties in many European countries. It was mainly due to the EU slapping sanctions on Austria when they formed a coalition with the Freedom Party why other countries refuse to enter coalitions with these parties. Likewise I suspect countries would have done less on the environment. In addition, had the EU had a single common foreign policy, you wouldn't have seen countries such as Britain, Spain, and Italy supporting the Iraq War. Besides, Canada, United States, Australia, and New Zealand have swung just as much to the right as the EU if not more so.
I agree the EU should respect the Irish vote on the Lisbon Treaty and not proceed or at the very least proceed with a two speed Europe whereby only the countries that support the Lisbon Treaty would fall under its rules.
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