Lisbon Treaty: Lack of democracy is still the issue.

They keep telling us what to do!

In 2002 we were brought back to vote a 2nd time on the Nice Treaty, we were told we got it wrong and had to say “Yes”.  Last year we had to go back again and re-vote on Lisbon, again, to get it right … we were told by the ‘Cartel of parties against the people’ that it was of vital importance for our economic prosperity and for world peace!

Where are the promises on Lisbon now?

The EU and various monopoly interests played their part in telling us how vital acceptance of Lisbon would be for us – it had to be a “Yes for Jobs”!  One year after the yes vote we are faced again with considering it’s implications, where are the jobs? Where stands the rights of working people?  Where stands our domestic economic life and small business sector?  Why are the EU dictating to us in regards to our economy and the absolute need for us to keep paying the international finance monopolies regardless of the implications for the lives of people?

One might despair – however, there is plenty cause for optimism!

Even though the referendum result was disappointing from the aspect of strengthening a Europe of big corporations, loss of democratic control and increasing the EU’s role as a military super-power there is a good aspect …  Nearly 600,000 of us rejected what our ‘masters’ told us – despite the massive propaganda and lies, the bribery and threats of economic devastation.

These 600,000 voters saw through the deception and we have no doubt continue to hold the same view, in fact, we expect that this number will have increased significantly over the last 12 months.

This leaves the 600,000, and their organisations, with a huge responsibility and with an unprecedented opportunity to put things right.

It is time to prepare for the next election.

In this period leading up to the next general election all democrats must resolve to put other questions in second place and to give primacy to the issue of democratic renewal – the people must be empowered to exercise control over the democratic and electoral process.  This empowerment of the people is the requirement for resolution of all the many problems facing us, including the economy and the financial system.

The question of establishing ‘Comhdháil Phobail / People’s Conventions’ in every constituency, wherein the people will select their own candidates to contest the next election, has been under discussion in several forums for some time now.  We would like to see this discussion brought to a conclusion and invite readers to email us directly, or to join the discussion on our Facebook page.

On this 1st anniversary of the Lisbon Treaty the following may be of interest:

Today’s statement by the Peace & Neutrality Alliance (PANA)

Statement issued last year following the Lisbon Referendum vote:

Oct. 2009 Statement by thefuture Initiative.
Oct. 2009 Statement of the Campaign Against the European Constitution
Oct. 2009 Statement by The National Platform EU Research and Information Centre