Celtic League - Victory for irish democracy and for people of Europe

This from the Celtic League:

A VICTORY FOR IRISH DEMOCRACY AND FOR THE PEOPLE OF EUROPE!

Celtic League Convenor (and Chairman of the Irish Branch of the Celtic
League), Cathal Ó Luain has welcomed the result of the Irish Referendum
on the Lisbon Treaty. He said:

"The Irish Branch was active in the campaign against the Treaty. The
Treaty was rejected by the Irish electorate with 54% voting against
in a poll turnout of 53% of the electorate ( this turnout is significant
in the context of the rerun of the Nice referendum, rejected but then
resubmitted and passed on a much lesser (35%) turnout, so no questions
can be raised about the validity of the result and that at least is
recognised by the losing Yes side).

The political establishment in Ireland and Europe may well be in a
state of shock but this decision must be respected!

EU Treaties must be ratified unanimously. Each country ratifies a
Treaty on the assumption that all other countries will do so too.
If one country says that it cannot ratify a Treaty as it stands -
in Ireland's case because the Irish people have rejected it - there
is no point in the other countries proceeding, and the Irish Government
should request them to stop.

The signs at the present are ominous. While the French and Dutch people
who rejected the Constitution, (forerunner of this Treaty), are celebrating,
the French/ German political powers have already said it must be submitted
again! So much for democracy and the obvious contempt the rulers
of Europe have for their citizens. All other countries ignored their
citizens and opted for adoption in their parliaments ( the necessity
for an Irish referendum was established by a Supreme Court judgement
following an action by R ,Crotty), knowing full well they would be
rejected in referenda. EU Commissioner Barosso has called for the
ratification procedure to continue in the few other countries yet
to address it, why if it requires unanimity? Isolate the Irish and
bully them into submission in one form or another seems to be the
order of the day. Let us ensure this this not happen!

The NO majority reflects much wider concern at the way the EU project
is going. Representative members of the Irish political class have
broken with the predominant uncritical consensus on the Euro-Federalist
project .This provides Ireland and Europe with an opportunity to
take a fundamental look at the EU integration process. Neither the
Irish people nor the peoples of the other EU countries want an EU
that is given the constitutional form of a State, as the Lisbon
Treaty and the EU Constitution proposed, even though this issue was
not highlighted in the referendum. The peoples of Europe will not
tolerate such a fundamental subversion of their national democracy
and independence. Even if this federalised EU were to be brought
off, it would not be sustainable."

J B Moffatt
Director of Information
Celtic League

15/06/08


The Celtic League has branches in the six Celtic Countries. It works
to promote cooperation between these countries and campaigns on a
broad range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights
human rights abuse, monitors all military activity and focuses on
socio-economic issues.

TEL (UK)01624 877918 MOBILE (UK)07624 491609

Internet site at:

http://celticleague.net
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celtic_league/