LePresidency

Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France and current, by six monthly rotation, President of the European Union, is extremely irked by Ireland. The President is going to Ireland so that he can listen to the reasons for their voting against the treaty. It’s a shame that democracy only means something to the Europhiles when they win, because when they lose, their attitude demonstrate their belief that the other side simply got it wrong, or didn’t understand what they were doing.

Memory takes me back to the days long ago when I was embroiled in the political battles in my own British film union, the then named ACTT. We discovered that the activists on the other side were members of the Workers Revolutionary Party and someone who was reporting back to the group I was aligned to had infiltrated them. We were the moderates and the fight was bitter and prolonged. There was a team of our foes who met upstairs in a pub, before each of our official meetings to plot their methodology, their aim being that their small group could dominate the democratic agenda of the group at large.

We knew, from reading their secret notes, that every time we won a vote they would filibuster until very late and we got tired and fed up. When we were not present in sufficient numbers they would immediately demand a new vote to try and overturn the democratic majority we had previously won. It was a bad joke, which we fought long and hard to conquer, and eventually we did so by coercing the some of the conspirators to expose their fellow plotters.

After a prolonged battle we were able to democratically unseat all of these control freaks from their seats on the board of the division of the union. I readily admit to enjoying the clandestine nature of some of this Pink Panther type sleuthing more than the political grind. Someone suggested I stand for political office at the time, but the experience and sheer boredom of most of these procedures put me off that idea for life.

The Treaty of Lisbon (also known as the Reform Treaty) was the treaty created to streamline the workings of the European Union. The stated aim of the treaty is "to complete the process started by the Treaty of Amsterdam and by the Treaty of Nice with a view to enhancing the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the Union and to improving the coherence of its action.”

The principal changes introduced with the Treaty of Lisbon include more qualified majority voting in the EU Council, enhanced involvement of the European Parliament in the legislative process through extended co-decision sharing with the EU Council, a reduction of the number of Commissioners from 27 to 18, and the creation of a possibly directly elected or appointed President of the European Council and a High Representative for Foreign Affairs to present a united position on EU policies (see more below).

If this were to be ratified, the Treaty of Lisbon would also make the Charter of Fundamental Rights (human rights provisions) legally binding.

The negotiations on modifying the EU institutions began in 2001, first resulting in the European Constitution, which failed due to rejection in two referendums. The Treaty of Lisbon was signed on 13 December 2007 in Lisbon (as Portugal held the EU Council's Presidency at the time), and was originally scheduled to have been ratified in all member states by the end of 2008, so it could come into force before the 2009 European elections. However, the rejection of the Treaty on 12 June 2008 by the Irish electorate has created uncertainty in this regard. It should, by rights, have consigned it to the dustbin of history.

President Sarkozy is making a huge, long-term mistake if he tries to usurp the democratic process in the EU. The Irish won’t accept this and neither will the rest of Europe. There was a deal which stated that if one or more of the countries in the EU rejected this treaty then it would be dropped. Every country bar one, who have been allowed to vote on this have actually voted against it, and he is trying to break the promises given. So upset is Le President Sarkozy by the Irish vote against the Lisbon treaty that he is reportedly going to tell them to vote again so this time they can get it right. I wonder if he proposes to have a series of elections for the Presidency of his own country so that his people can decide to get rid of him until they get it right?