If the Lisbon Treaty addressed issues of special concern to the Irish, such as the country's stance on abortion, taxation and political neutrality, a new poll indicates more "yes" than "no" votes. Irish voters, who had rejected the Lisbon Treaty in a referendum last June, plunging the European Union into a crisis, said they may approve a revised document, according to a TNS poll conducted by the Irish Times. In the poll, the public was asked how they would vote if the treaty was modified to contain opt out clauses for issues of special concern, such as Ireland's abortion laws, which are far more restrictive than most members of the 27 nation bloc and the country's special stance on political neutrality and taxation. The poll, which was carried out for the European Commission and the Irish government last week, surveyed a broad swath of voters. It showed that if such issues were clarified in special declarations, 43% of voters would vote in favour of the treaty and 39% would vote against it, with the remaining respondents expressing no opinion. A representative sampling of 1,000 voters were questioned in face to face interview and is subject to a three percent margin of error.
Irish voters, who had rejected the Lisbon Treaty in a referendum last June, plunging the European Union into a crisis, said they may approve a revised document, according to a TNS poll conducted by the Irish Times.
In the poll, the public was asked how they would vote if the treaty was modified to contain opt out clauses for issues of special concern, such as Ireland's abortion laws, which are far more restrictive than most members of the 27 nation bloc and the country's special stance on political neutrality and taxation.
The poll, which was carried out for the European Commission and the Irish government last week, surveyed a broad swath of voters. It showed that if such issues were clarified in special declarations, 43% of voters would vote in favour of the treaty and 39% would vote against it, with the remaining respondents expressing no opinion. A representative sampling of 1,000 voters were questioned in face to face interview and is subject to a three percent margin of error.
Can you tell me in what way exactly the Nice Treaty is better? And how the rejection of the Lisbon Treaty creates a dynamic that helps make things better?
Here's the dirty secret: the neoliberal elite loves the population to be disaffected and vaguely anti-European, because the central institutions of the EU are the only counterweight against deregulation, even today, and everything that decredibilises "Europe" weakens the centra bureaucracy against the lobbies and the politicians that support them. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Not enacting Lisbon is what erodes Europe - what the "non" campaign is a Europe in crisis, sees as delegitimized. They don't give a dman about the content of the Treatry, only about the process - and they are absolutely right. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
And this was about a simple, one page document with a lot of public commentary (most famous being the Federalist Papers) and a promise of a Bill of Rights, which was fulfilled partially a couple years later, as the wikipedia article states:
Articles III to XII were ratified by 11/14 states (> 75%). Article I, rejected by Delaware, was ratified only by 10/14 States (< 75%), and despite later ratification by Kentucky (11/15 states < 75%), the article has never since received the approval of enough states for it to become part of the Constitution. Article II was ratified by 6/14, later 7/15 states, but did not receive the 3/4 majority of States needed for ratification until 1992 when it became the 27th Amendment.
Frank Delaney ~ Ireland
Where's Miguel and his "Brussels Consensus" diary when you need it?
