Friday, July 04, 2008

Squaring the democratic circle

Comments by Sarkozy advisor Alain Lammasoure in Irish Times today show the depth of confusion that the Irish result has caused the true believers.
He said it was a mistake for the Government to hold a referendum on Lisbon and described such plebiscites as "tools for dictators" as evidenced by European history. "If you hold 10 or 12 referendums and in every state there is 80 per cent support for an idea there is still only a less than 1 per cent probability that the measure will pass everywhere," he said.
So we cannot let the people decide. Because of the 1930's. So how does he explain Switzerland, that country famed for its dictatorial tendancies?

However he goes on,
"We are paralysed by the unanimity rule and we pass legislation through undemocratic procedures . . . we have a duty to grant our citizens more power," he said. "Power is exercised in the EU through very obscure procedures devised half a century ago to run what was then a single customs union. This cannot run a fully fledged political union."
Hold on, no referendums, but more power to the citizen. How does he think he can give them more power if he wants to deny them their voice? This Janus faced approach is of course combined with an aggresive attack on Ireland as the cause of the EU's problems.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

it's pretty easy to explain switzerland.

you make people vote in referendums often, and they vote on the issue.

you let them vote once every 6 years, and they vote on all sorts of rubbish. Or are you one of the people that voted no to save the Irish commissioner (already given away at Nice), Euro-imposed abortion (?!), Irish inclusion in a 'European army' (euro-fantasists only need apply)

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