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Irish protest Sarkozy visit
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by Rob Peters | July 22, 2008 at 12:00 pm
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Hundreds protested in Dublin yesterday as French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Ireland.
Demonstrators gathered outside government offices to protest comments made last week by Sarkozy that, in effect, called into question the result of the Irish referendum that rejected the Treaty of Lisbon.
Some welcomed Sarkozy, however, as many at the demonstration were farmers who support Sarkozy's policies on agriculture.
The French leader sparked outrage last week by apparently suggesting that Ireland should vote again after its crushing rejection of the Lisbon Treaty in a June 12 referendum.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside government offices in Dublin, Ireland's capital, where Sarkozy held talks with Brian Cowen, the Irish prime minister.
At the time of Sarkozy's remarks, Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, sought to downplay the comments, which were reported by politicians who attended a meeting with the French president.
Sarkozy dismissed the report during his visit. "I never said that Ireland had to organise a second referendum," he told a news conference with Prime Minister Brian Cowen.
"I did not in any way meddle in Irish domestic affairs."
Irish voters dealt a blow to the European Union last month by rejecting the Lisbon Treaty by 53 percent in the only popular vote on the text anywhere in the 27-nation bloc.
MORE THAN 1,200 farmers converged on Government Buildings yesterday with six tractors in the red and blue of France to welcome its president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his stand on European agriculture.
However, the Irish Farmers' Association, which organised the gathering with welcome banners in French, had a dual purpose.
While the farmers were strong in their praise for Mr Sarkozy, they also called for a veto on any deal on agriculture negotiated by the EU Commissioner for Trade, Peter Mandelson, at the World Trade Talks in Geneva.
"We want to explain to President Sarkozy, who is a friend of Irish agriculture, that we believe he is correct when he said Mr Mandelson had gone too far in WTO," IFA president Padraig Walshe said.
The Treaty of Lisbon (also known as the Reform Treaty) is a treaty designed to streamline the workings of the European Union (EU) with amendments to the Treaty on European Union (TEU, Maastricht) and the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC, Rome), the latter being renamed Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) in the process. The stated aim of the treaty is "to complete the process started by the Treaty of Amsterdam and by the Treaty of Nice with a view to enhancing the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the Union and to improving the coherence of its action"[1]
The Treaty of Lisbon was signed on 13 December 2007 in Lisbon (as Portugal held the EU Council's Presidency at the time), and was planned to have been ratified in all member states by the end of 2008, so it could come into force before the 2009 European elections. However, the rejection of the Treaty on 12 June 2008 by the Irish electorate has created uncertainty in this regard.[
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (5)
at 12:29 on July 22nd, 2008
Great story, Rob. That's what I call multi-sourced!
I can't believe Sakozy's impudence in suggesting the Irish have a second referendum on the Treaty. He might as well just take out an advert saying, "Dear Ireland, you're wrong. Try again."
How a republican dares question the sovereignty of another country is just beyond me. I know this is a bit of an extreme analogy, but this reminds me a bit of when the Palestinians elected Hamas and the West decided to ignore their choice.
Is this how we do business now?
(I'll get off this soap-box, now - thanks)
at 13:09 on July 22nd, 2008
Thanks for the flag, mchawk. Your advert analogy made me laugh--that's pretty much what he implied. Unless he has a problem with the actual mechanics of the vote (ie. if it was fairly carried out and tabulated), he has to let democracy take its course. You can't call foul on a vote just because the results don't turn your way. Doesn't that defeat the point?
at 12:45 on July 22nd, 2008
Rob Peters, I like this story. It's good stuff.
Well, I would Protest as well! The French may have to learn to be humble and modest for a change. I do love the French and like being in France, however they are somewhat arrogant at times such as this! This will not help the Lisbon Treaty at all!
at 13:10 on July 22nd, 2008
Thanks Paschen...yep, something to be said for modesty now and again.
at 13:44 on July 24th, 2008
I was in a hurry on my way into Dublin, but I had to pull in when I saw this lot gathered near the French Embassy, awaiting President Sarkozy's visit. I heard there was a larger gathering elsewhere, but this group was quite small, maybe twenty to thirty. I shot quite a few frames within about ten minutes then fled to make my appointments. On the way into Ballsbridge I was stopped by cops at the lights near the RDS while the boys in black limos (or whatever) shot past in the opposite direction with their sirening escourt: Sarkozy keeping his own appointment with the various factions. The French president had allocated an hour for the meeting, each party/representitive (Sinn Féin, Libertas, Fine Gael, Labour etc,) to be granted a 3-minute speech. Ridiculous of course, and seemingly no more than a publicity exercise, though initial reports on the radio suggest that Sarkozy did impress quite a few of the parties and the meeting was extended (by a whole half hour I think, gee). Sarkozy's political near-sightedness aside, I feel there is an awful lot of misconception about the Lisbon Treaty, and that the No campaign, run by Libertas, exploited this to the max. There is also a lot of irony which many no-voters seem unaware of (side by side with posters telling us not to be 'bullied' are the guilt-trippy ones proclaiming 'Thousands Died For Your Freedom'). A big part of the No campaign was about our precious neutrality; you know, the neutrality (that Ganley and his ilk would heartily approve of) that allowed American planes to be refueled in Shannon, or, half a century ago, had de Valera visiting the German ambassador to offer his condolences on the death of that great statesman Adolf Hitler; the kind of neutrality that secretly (and sometimes not so secretly) fears anything foreign; the kind that gave us the Blueshirts and was behind our own little pogrom against the Jews in Limerick; that kind of neutrality. I think Sarkozy's peremptory visit, giving an impression of bullying and arrogance, was a mistake. Impossible to know what the man was thinking. But politically stupid, probably a mistake to even visit at this point. Plenty of fodder for the No factions.
Skyroad has contributed a photo to this story.