The EUD support the X09 campaign for referendums on the new Treaty
Lisbon Conference: Overnight deal struck on new treaty
Friday 19 October 2007
“With this agreement we have managed to get out of stalemate… we will be ready to tackle the world’s challenges”. It is in these words that Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates announced on Friday at around 02:00 local time the agreement on the text of the new Treaty, describing it as a “victory for Europe”. The new treaty will be formally signed by European leaders on 13 December of this year and subsequently go for ratification in all member states with a view to coming into place by mid-2009, ahead of the next European elections.
If this political victory will probably have positive outcomes for the Portuguese presidency, whether it is a victory for Europe is a different question. The treaty is specially designed to avoid procedures of referendum across Europe and so far, only Ireland is to submit the text to its citizens. Furthermore, ratification before the 2009 European elections would prevent citizens to express their disagreement with the text through the urns.
In spite of the current euphoria generated by the consensus, one may observe that consensus was far from reality in the European Parliament’s previous sessions. If the federalists were greeting the imminence of the agreement, EU-critical forces denounced the lack of democracy in the proposed treaty as well as in the efforts made to avoid referendums that could delay, one more time, the march for integration.
It is with no surprise that Joseph Daul of the EPP-ED group greeted the possibility of an agreement on the “Reformed Treaty” , ignoring the fact that it was largely the same than the rejected Constitutional Treaty. Although pretending that the EPP-ED does ”not want a European state” , his explicit support to the newly drafted text could well appear paradoxical for European citizens, had they been explained the real content of the treaty.
Martin Schulz of the PES also appeared optimistic regarding the Lisbon Summit. He didn’t derogated to the socialist everlasting support for European integration recalling the words of President Mitterand on nationalism and war in a simplistic and well-known assumption that more national state means war and more European integration means peace.
On the other hand, Monica Frassoni of the Greens/EFA was much more dubitative concerning the proposed text, calling the treaty “a government plot to go behind citizen’s backs”. The text is “user unfriendly and does not in any way involve citizens” Frassoni said.
Jens-Peter Bonde of the IND/DEM group and prominent member of the EUDemocrats also criticized the text and the way it had been drafted. “We have a text which is impossible to read. What we have is Sarkozy's mini treaty and no referendum. No real legal basis. Different names. No referendum - hypocritical to say the least and regrettable. »
The EUDemocrats do condemn the proposed text as well for it doesn’t emanate from the people and confirms the growing gap between citizens and elite in Europe. For this reason we explicitly support the X09 referendum campaign. Our objective? Gather enough signatures in favour of popular consultation in all member states to give the people the right to chose for its future in a democratic way.
Visit the X09 website
Sources: EUObserver