 |
Irish ministers have reacted robustly to the French president’s remark that the Republic of Ireland should hold a new referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. European Affairs Minister Dick Roche said “it is far, far too early to be talking about a referendum or about some specific policy to go forward”.
Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said Ireland would not be bullied…
Mr Sarkozy will visit Dublin on Monday, seeking a way ahead after Irish voters rejected the EU treaty on 12 June…
Mr Sarkozy was quoted as saying “the Irish will have to vote again”. He was speaking to deputies from his conservative UMP party in Paris on Tuesday.
Foreign Minister Martin said Mr Sarkozy would be “in listening mode” during his visit to Dublin.
“We’re not entertaining any prospect or any bullying from anybody,” he said. “We’ll be looking at it from an Irish perspective and what’s in the best interests of Ireland.”
Reacting “robustly” sounds more like Sarkozy “can stick his 2nd vote where it will do the most good”.
And, uh, thanks to some Irish Rugby fans for the poster.
Irish ministers have reacted robustly to the French president’s
It’s aboot damn time!
The Irish need to put a shillelagh where Sarkozy can’t see it, but where he will certainly feel it !!! And the Irish should demand that the other EU Partners also have citizens referendums on the question !!!
Kudos to Ireland!! Long live Ireland!!
They should keep voting until they give the answer the EU wants! It’s not like the EU is a Democracy or Direct Representative Republic.
If I remember correctly, and anyone help me if I’m wrong, EU representatives are assigned by individual respesentatives from the subscriber countries. So, it’s an unelected government?
Angus, it’s a bit more complex than that. There’s the European Parliament, which is directly elected, the Council of the Union, made up of the member-states government ministers and the European Commission, which is the appointed bit.
http://europa.eu/abc/panorama/howorganised/index_en.htm
Damn journalists never get it right. In reality Mr Sarkozy said “the Irish will have to vote again”; to which Foreign Minister Martin replied, “We’ll be looking at it from an Irish perspective and what’s in the best interests of Ireland. Therefore Mr. Sarkozy can kiss my Irish Ass.”
We (Irish) have had this in the past. Referendum on Nice – vote was no. The government said “the public didn’t understand the issues at hand. We shall educate them and ask again.” And unfortunately for Nice 2, the vote was yes.
This time however, the Lisbon treaty was met with a larger No vote. And it’s less likely that a re-vote will be a Yes. There’s also a large bad sentiment about being asked twice for Nice.
We said No – now the eurocrats have to deal with it.
We will not be assimilated.
When will the other countries vote?
#8, according to the article, Ireland was the only one with a popular referendum vote. All the other countries voted yes in their legislatures.