Europe in Danger?
Is the unification of Europe in danger after the Irish ‘no’ to the new (constitutional!) treaty? Perhaps not, but there is a lot of unrest. First European leaders blasted the Irish for their ‘no.’ Now they have decided to approach the Irish in a calm manner, and to ask them why they voted against the Lisbon treaty.
The Irish government is not very able it seems to give clear answers to Europe. There seems to be some discussion and debate about the causes for the no.
Well, here’s a hint: the problem is that Europe is too bureaucratic, and not democratic enough. The European voters have the impression that whatever they want will be ignored by Europe, for Europe is not ruled by democrats but by bureaucrats. The voters can vote every now and then, but the power of Europe’s Parliament is limited.
Additionally, individual countries have the impression that their votes don’t matter much either; the big countries basically decide what does and does not happen.
Unless these concerns are addressed, and until Europe is brought to the people, every government that asks its people whether it supports a European treaty will get ‘no’ as an answer.
Sarkozy, meanwhile, says that the Irish no means that the European Union should not be expanded for the coming years; first the treaty has to be ratified by all member-states, then we can talk about expansion. That’s bad news for Croatia and Turkey, but something that will most likely be welcomed by most European voters.
It’s another problem of Europe; instead of harmonizing things internally first, Europe has expanded at an unprecedented rate in recent years. Every country that wanted to join, was welcome (except for Turkey of course, mostly because Turkey is a Islamic country). Meanwhile, voters were wondering ‘why not make Europe more democratic first?’
And that’s a good question. One gets the impression that Europe’s leaders are more obsessed with expanding Europe, than with making Europe work better and more popular (obviously two related goals).
What’s the mystery?
If European leaders want to know why the Irish voted NO, the simplest thing to do might be to ask themselves what would have motivated their own voters? After all, the whole reason for Lisbon was so that they (explicitly including the French) could avoid allowing a popular vote on the material – having lost the first time. Any of EU leader who avoids holding a popular vote in their own country is a total flaming hypocrite if they fault the Irish for the way that they voted.