Here we go again

This blog was started on May 15, 2008, to fight for a more democratic EU and, therefore, against the terms of the pre-constitutional legalistic text called Treaty of Lisbon, with a post containing only this declaration:

The Irish are the voice of all citizens of Europe

(Click on the title to read it in English, or click on the following links to read the same text in other language: português, français, deutsch, nederlands, español.

Sixteen months later, the deafness of our politicians forced many of us back to the fight.

This time, this blog will be used more as a support to others better organized, advertising initiatives and actions, reporting  news and results.

*****

Democracy is officially dead in EU

Although there are no official results in yet, tallies everywhere are showing a big increase in support for the Treaty. (…)

(Lisbon tallies indicate massive Yes swing, Saturday, Saturday, 3 October 2009 11:53, RTÉ)

Europe lives now in a modern plutocracy.

Raymond Crotty’s efforts were in vain:

(…) More than 20 years ago the late Raymond Crotty won a case against the Irish Government which meant any EU rules that impacted on Ireland’s constitution must be approved by the people.
Mary Crotty said her father’s win has resulted in less than four million Irish people voting on behalf of half a billion Europeans on the Lisbon Treaty. (…)

(Daughter of referendum case winner urges ‘No’ vote, 30/09/2009 - 16:02:46, IOL News/Ireland On-Line)

On a first impression, the winners of this referendum were these:

(…) Two multinationals - Ryanair and Intel - are spending huge sums on the campaign to encourage a Yes vote. (…) Between them, Ryanair and Intel have contributed €700,000 to the Yes campaign, and huge contributions from Europe are also pouring in. (…)

(Euro federalists bully us and buy our vote, 27 September 2009, by Tom McGurk, Irish Post)

But if you think just a little more carefully, you can find the real winners of this poll:

(…) our consistent message is that Europeans must pool their efforts and resources.  We cannot continue to conduct the business of defence in separate national boxes.  The money is just no longer there, even in the biggest national defence budgets. (…)

(European Defence Industry Must Break Out of "National Boxes", EDA Chief Executive Nick Witney says, 9th International Exhibition of Defence & Security Technologies, IDET 2007)

The European Defence Agency was established in 2004 to create such a stronger European market for defence equipment. (…)

(European Defence Agency, Wikipedia)

(…) While European defence budgets remain fragmented and massive duplication in research and development exists, the European defence industry has made some moves towards consolidation. British Aerospace was widely expected to merge with Germany’s DASA to form the first major European defence giant. Instead in 1999 BAe merged with another British company, GEC’s defence businesses (GEC-Marconi), to form BAE Systems which has tended to focus on the Anglo-American market. As a result, in 2000, DASA merged with Aerospatiale-Matra to form EADS. Further consolidation of the smaller defence firms cannot be ruled out.

In 2002 the formation of MBDA brought together the product portfolios of Aerospatiale Matra Missiles (of EADS), Alenia Marconi Systems missiles, and Matra BAe Dynamics to form Europe’s No. 1 missile manufacturer and No. 2 globally after Raytheon.

Other major players include:
AgustaWestland
BAE Systems
Dassault Aviation
Diehl BGT Defence
Eurocopter
Eurofighter International
Finmeccanica
Krauss-Maffei
MBDA
Rheinmetall
Rolls-Royce
Saab Bofors Dynamics
Snecma
Thales
ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems

(European Union defence procurement, Wikipedia)

POSTED BY Administrator ON 10.03.09 @ 4:36 pm |

4 Comments »

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  1. It has crossed my mind before that there should be weapons’ manufacturers behind this story. Enough big money, enough big power to achieve what they did achieve after all.
    The Irish will be known as the people who can say yes or no, depending on how much money they get from it.
    They themselves will probably be the ones to feel bad and guilty about it, soon or later and more than anybody else.
    It’s not for us to judge their about-turn now.
    Their children, their grand-children, History will judge them. And will specilly judge the liders behind all this misery.
    And finally in the end, when money will matter nothing no more - something that people often pretend to ignore - the Lord will judge them.

    Comment by am.ma — October 4, 2009 @ 12:18 am

  2. So, the Irish decided to change their constitution in ways that were never explained to them by people who have been proven to be untrustworthy. Very sad.

    Comment by robin — October 4, 2009 @ 11:54 am

  3. You sensationalist.

    I agree that having to re-vote on an issue does make ours a hilarious parody of a true democracy, but when the first ‘no’ result came about as a result of misinformation and deception, I don’t see how a second referendum signals the death knell of EU democracy.

    Comment by Sully — October 4, 2009 @ 6:24 pm

  4. Voter fraud caught on tape! Also, thousands on non-Irish citizens on voting roles. See video and article.

    http://blog.antilisbontreaty.com/2009/10/06/caught–vote-fraud-on-film–afghanistantype-fraud-on-lisbon-2-vote.aspx

    Comment by Jack — October 6, 2009 @ 7:44 am

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