As the luck of the Irish would have it, the resourceful Irish nation is the only nation in the EU that was privileged (as stipulated by their own Constitution) to vote “for” or “against” the Treaty of Europe. The little nation of Malta did not have such a luxury, albeit on such an important issue, because our representatives feel that we are incapable of making such a decision for ourselves, and so they voted on our behalf. And for that matter, this also applies to the other nations of Europe, ie the citizens of the respective countries were not trusted to make their own decision but it was left to the EU parliamentarians to decide. The Irish nation must consider itself very lucky to be granted the privilege – which should actually be the right of every EU citizen – of voting on such an important treaty.

It turns out, however, that the Irish nation had already voted on this issue just months ago and the majority had voted “No” to the Treaty of Europe. But the EU did not take “No” for an answer and, perhaps also thinking that the Irish are mentally deficient, and may have made a mistake in voting “No”, they gave them another chance, but this time to vote “Yes”. To ensure that the Irish voted “Yes”, the EU have made certain special concessions to the Irish nation, promising to assist them in the current turmoil of global recession (from which the whole EU is also suffering), and threatening that if the answer is “No”, then no, or limited, assistance will be provided. Under such circumstances, could the resoluteness of the Irish be bribed, be threatened or yield, or will it be steadfast in its determination? The Irish nation was coerced to be divided once more between the “No” and “Yes” camps, as if Ireland had not suffered enough bloodshed with religious and political in-fighting, and having reaped the benefits of peace, once more they were intimidated into another internal conflict.

After all is said and done, it is obvious that the so called European Treaty is nothing more than a modification of its predecessor, ie the European Constitution, which had been rejected by the majority of the citizens of France, and Holland (and there was a good chance that it would have also been rejected by the British and other nations, had they been allowed to vote on it).

Thus, in spite of the fact that the outcome of the Irish vote on this subject has recently now become the “Yes” vote, the EU cannot push this so-called EU Treaty down EU citizens’ throats, unless it is ratified by the citizens of Europe. If this (the latter) is not done, the EU Treaty cannot be considered as a treaty by, from and for European citizens, but a treaty by EU bureaucrats, from EU bureaucrats, for EU politicians – with or without the blessing of the Irish.

Raymond Sammut

MELLIEHA