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I've just received this from Daniel Hannan MEP. It doesn't matter who wrote it as it's true.
It does show that the people of Europe's views, matter so much less that the Leaders' views.
We'll have the Treaty whatever the costs. Here's the piece:
IRELAND WILL VOTE TWICE; BRITAIN WON'T VOTE AT ALL
This is becoming like the closing scenes of Terminator. However many times you kill the European Constitution, it keeps lurching to its feet again. Blam! Fifty-five per cent of French voters say "Non". Zap! Sixty-two per cent of Dutch voters say "Nee". But the automaton keeps advancing, its flesh burned away, its charred metal skeleton stamped with the words "Lisbon Treaty". Then - pow! - 53 per cent of Irish voters vote "No". The machine is briefly swallowed by orange flames. But, after a short lull, the red lights go on in its skull and, once again, it starts clawing its way forward.
Shortly before Ireland voted, the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Durrão Barroso, warned electors that there was no Plan B. Irish commentators innocently took this to mean that, if the treaty was rejected, it would be dropped. What Barroso in fact meant, as is now clear, is that Plan A would be resubmitted over and over again.
This is how EU leaders invariably behave after a "No" vote. They machine-gun out a couple of platitudes about listening to the people, then carry on regardless. For them, public opinion is an obstacle to tear aside, not a reason to change direction.
Their desire for a second Irish referendum next autumn isn't really to do with voting weights or numbers of commissioners or extensions of majority voting. Many of the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty can be - indeed, have been - implemented in anticipation of formal ratification. For example, the European elections on June 4 will be fought on the basis of the number of MEPs that would have been authorised by Lisbon, not the ones provided for by the current treaties.
No, this is about keeping the project going - a project from which millions now earn their living. The EU employs more than 170,000 officials, on handsome and largely untaxed retainers. And for every formal Eurocrat there are dozens of fellow travellers: the Europe officers retained by every charity, local council, large corporation and NGO. Their salaries might not be paid directly by Brussels but their livelihoods depend on the process of integration.
For Euro-hirelings, Lisbon isn't about federalism or democracy; it's about mortgages and school fees. They realise, to borrow their favourite simile, that the EU is like a bicycle that will fall over if it stops moving. And so they have convinced themselves that voters are suffering from what Engels called "false consciousness": that they secretly want their leaders to disregard their votes and push ahead with deeper integration.
If you think I exaggerate, consider these words, spoken to the Czech President last week by Brian Crowley, leader of Ireland's governing party, Fianna Fáil, in the European Parliament: "All his life my father fought against the British domination. Many of my relatives lost their lives. That is why I dare to say that the Irish wish for the Lisbon Treaty."
Set aside the anti-Britishness: Europhiles can be xenophobic when it suits them. Disregard the curious way in which Crowley equates his father's campaign for national independence with his campaign against it. Ignore, too, the anachronism: since Crowley's father was born 13 years after independence, he can hardly have spent his life fighting "the British domination". Focus, instead, on the extraordinary presumption: "the Irish wish for the Lisbon Treaty". So much for the referendum result. Crowley believes he knows the voters' desires better than they do.
A long passgae I know, but worth reading.
Be part of Europe if we must, but not ruled by it.
Roger