…the Treaty of Lisbon isn’t dead yet. The apparatchiks of Brussels have no intention of giving up the gravy train just because of a few backward and blue-painted bog-dwelling Irishmen.Concerning the reaction from the Netherlands, Our expatriate Dutch correspondent H. Numan has translated an article from De Telegraaf, followed by his brief commentary:
Balkenende: The Netherlands will continue ratifying the EU constitution- - - - - - - - -
The Hague — The Netherlands is disappointed by the Irish rejection of the new EU treaty of Lisbon, but will continue to ratify the treaty.
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced this Friday, “An Irish nay does not mean that we and other member states should stop the ratification process.” After the approval in parliament, which voted on the 5th of June, soon the senate has to vote on it. “There is no reason to withdraw this piece of legislation”, according to the prime minister.
He does not want to draw any conclusions about what the rejection of the treaty means for Europe. The Irish must have the opportunity to consider that. In the next EU summit by the end of next week PM Brian Cowen will get the opportunity to voice his opinion about the situation in Ireland and what to do next, according to Balkenende.
Germany and France also want the Euro-nations to continue ratifying the new Euro treaty. This was announced by German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday in a joint press conference.
Both leaders were disappointed by the fact that the Irish voters rejected the treaty in a referendum. But according to them, the treaty has already been ratified by 18 of the 27 member states. “We hope therefore that other states will continue the process of ratification.”
The British conservatives in the European Parliament proposed a plan-B after the Irish rejection. “A plan B, with the B for burial”, according to the 27 British Euro parliamentarians. “the Irish population was the only one allowed to vote on the subject. Therefore they represent the entire European constituency.” The British Conservatives, who are in the opposition, ranted against the fact that their PM Gordon Brown wants to continue the ratification process in the United Kingdom.
H. Numan’s comment:
Well, Mr. Balkenende as well as the EU government certainly have a reason to withdraw. According to the Lisbon treaty, the ratification must be unanimous. The question is, of course, how can we make the population swallow that one too?
12 comments:
the 'oppressed elites' of the EU are so deceitful. If Ireland had passed it, they would be screaming 'See, See! The people want the Lisbon treaty!, but now, they scheme to ignore and minimize the NO vote. The stupid masses have once again foiled their plans to save the stupid masses from themselves. Stupid masses of unclean, ignorant peasants. We know what is good for you and you don't!
The apparatchiks of Brussels have no intention of giving up the gravy train...
No they don't. One (or three!) little No vote(s) certainly isn't going to stop them. It might give them a little pause, but it's not the end of it yet.
I enjoyed this blog post from the UK's Daniel Hannan: EU referendum - no means no.
...just because of a few backward and blue-painted bog-dwelling Irishmen.
Hee-hee! :-D
Perhaps a counter-bloc can be formed to oppose the EU, consisting of England, Norway, Ireland, Czech Republic, Northern Italy, Flanders, Switzerland and Denmark. Holland would probably join in the end as well.
Queen, that just might be workable, on an informal level, of course. Doing it formally one would form all kinds of obstacles from the eurocrats.
BTW, I think being critical of the EU is more workable than being against it. The calls here in Denmark are for reform, not abandonment, and being critical is key to figuring out just what kind of reform is needed.
If later it turns out that reform is not really possible - then we'll look at alternatives.
Kind of makes me wish for the good old days, when the corrupt ruling elite could be run out of power at the end of a pitchfork...
The problem with the Leftists is that they NEVER give up on their goals. They always regroup and try try again (see amnesty in the US). We Conservative types who merely want to be left alone and unmolested by our governments must forever be vigilant against a horde of Leftists who believe they know best what is good for our societies. The Leftists have seemingly limitless energy to keep pressing towards their socialist goals and large government is their most effective tool. To retain our freedom we must fight for smaller, more local government.
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Leftists never give up because they have a permanent militant attitude towards politics. Rather like Muslims, actually.
My question is, what practical effect does not ratifying Lisbon have? The EU already controls almost everything except military assets and diplomacy. The EU's power to Tax, Regulate, Legislate, and Direct, powers that override those of every national government and have no effective means of oversight by them, already make the EU a defacto supra-national government whether or not the member states ratify Lisbon.
Randian, it's a darn good question as to the effect of the 'No'. British press is standing up against the 'Labour' (read: 'unaccountable elite') government, and the EU-critical voices in Denmark are more vocal than ever.
Even traditionally EU-loyal Jyllands-Posten runs thoughtful editorials about the gap between the citizens and the elite, and we see commentaries here and there that opine that the system could even collapse if radical reform is not implemented.
I expect this tremor of a mountain to give birth to a mouse, though. In the first place, that is. People are becoming aware that fundamental principles are being violated and expectations frustrated. It's not easy pickings to be EU-proponent these days.
Leftists never give up because their political beliefs are a substitute for religion for them. Demonstrations are their Masses, op-eds in the NY Times are their prayers, legislative bodies are their churches.
Leftists' agendas continue to be advanced even during periods when they are ostensibly out of power because they have installed permanent bureaucrats, professors and judges who sabotage any conservative government policies while promoting socialism.
Conservatives never clean house as ruthlessly as leftists coming into power, and can never roll back the damage completely so it is cumulative. Any attempt to replace the saboteurs is met with screaming accusations by the media, handmaiden to the left.
Meanwhile teachers and professors indoctrinate their students into good little socialist robots incapable of critical thought who are actually going to pick a President on the basis of his color and inflict unnecessary economic pain on their country for a fairy tale of man made global warming.
This brain goo attaches itself to nominal Republicans as well.
Really, it's like the killer Blob, spreading inexorably, with a smaller and smaller band of unsuccessfully-programmed rebels resisting approaching totalitarianism.
Looks like the majority of people want to be looked after and are also stupid enough to entrust their future to big government instead of their own efforts despite a mountain of historic and contemporary evidence that this approach always ends badly.
How's government care working out for Natives and blacks? Yet they always vote for more of it. Guess paltry handouts are worth their very lives to them.
Many groups have suffered grievously throughout human history. Those who whine about it full time instead of working and who seek redress from their ancestors' oppressors' descendants over generations end up totally degraded and dying through self-sabotaging behavior. On the other hand, victims who neither forgive nor forget but refuse to dwell on their past suffering and forge on with their lives do well e.g. the Baltic nations after being decimated and crushed by Russian communists.
Is Russia apologizing? No, it's completely denying its crimes against humanity. Is it paying reparations? No, it's making new threats and using its economic clout in ways not allowed by International law. Yet the Balts are living well and pulling away from their still active oppressors through sheer gumption and hard work.
Blacks and natives would do well to pick the can-do path over the someone-owes-me fork which brings them only slow cultural death.
Self respect for an individual and a people comes from achievement.
Achievement comes from hard work, not gouging people who have not hurt you and had nothing to do with your forbears' oppression either.
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