How strange! Irish Times EU corr Jamie Smyth writes in his EU.observer blog:
You have to hand it to Charlie, Ireland’s happy-go-lucky member of the European Commission. He’s certainly no shrinking violet when it comes to expressing his personal views on the Lisbon treaty.At his by-now regular Friday speech in Ireland on 3 July (which enables him to have a long weekend at home) he told a room of accountants that most Europeans would have followed the Irish example and thrown out the treaty if they were allowed a vote by their leaders.“When the Irish people rejected the Lisbon treaty a year ago the initial reactions ranged from one of shock to horror, to aghastness and temper and vexation,” said McCreevy. “On the other hand, I think all of the politicians of Europe would have known quite well that if a similar question had been put to their electorate in a referendum the answer in 95 percent of countries would have been ‘No’ as well,”McCreevy, who is famous for telling the public during last year’s referendum campaign that "any sane or sensible person” shouldn’t even attempt to read the Lisbon treaty, must have forgotten that the public in Luxembourg and Spain both voted for the EU constitution, the precursor to the Lisbon treaty.His broader message is probably correct: at least some electorates in Europe (the Danes, British, Dutch and maybe the French) would throw out the treaty if it came to a popular vote.
Come again, Jamie? The "Danes, British, Dutch and maybe the French" would throw out the treaty? Indeed they would — but why are you and the pro-treaty media pack not saying this in the Irish media? Might persuade us to go against our betters, eh?
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