Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Lisbon: Time to vote!

Tomorrow, June 12th, all across Ireland people will vote on a referendum to ratify the Treaty Of Lisbon. There are two strong camps, those that desire the treaty to be ratified, the "Yes" camp and those that do not wish the treaty to be ratified, the "No" camp. At time of writing the latest opinion polls while quite close, have the majority in favour of "Yes".

The Yes campaigners, mainly the duly elected government of the country, plus in a rare agreement, both of the major opposition government parties are also in favour of the treaty. They believe that the institutional question on Europe needs to be finalised so that EU and member state resources can be directed at more urgent and pressing issues, such as climate change, terrorism, migration, international crime and most importantly the world economy. They also contest that rejection of the Treaty would greatly sideline Ireland's influence in the EU decision making process and its ability to shape future policy whereas before and with the passing of the Treaty, Ireland would be able to maintain it's ability to "punch above it's weight". As Ireland had a major role in the creation of the original provisions during it's Presidency of the EU in 2004, it would be a shame for the citizens of the country not to stand behind the influence that Irish government officials and diplomats brought to the original table. Their campaign, while accused of being lacking in concise information for the people has been fair and just and trusts the people to make the right choice.

The No campaigners, made up of the left-over political dregs of the nation, former terrorists, socialists, Marxists and other assorted waster leftists believe that the people of Ireland should hold the EU to ransom, to be paid with yet another revision of the treaty to selfishly favour Ireland with no thought to the consequences, loss of credibility on the world stage or the astronomical cost involved. Their campaign has hinged on creating fear among the people by removing from context, elements of the treaty, misquoting them and claiming for example: that the EU can change our taxation laws or revoke Ireland's neutrality on a whim which is pure fantasy.

Unfortunately, as a serving military officer, I cannot make specific statements which may be construed as direct instructions on which way to vote in a constitutional referendum, but hopefully I have simplified the decision for you.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

So Creedon does the fact that I am for the no vote make me a shinner, a wastrel or a leftie?..I believe in a united europe , I believe in a european army but do you want to take orders from a Frenchman ( with their fine ethics over Iraq) ..or a German , because the balance of power will be changed by this"Treaty" A Treaty whose own author admitted in "Le Monde" was purposely written so it could not be understood clearly because if the people did understand it they wouldn't want it.

Anonymous said...

LE MONDE?????? LE FUCKIN' MONDE!!! Leftist French propaganda?? Go back you your red "comrades" or your knee-capping buddies you cowardly nameless cunt and don't soil the blog of a hero!

Major General Creedon said...

Stand down Grunt. You must remember that this hero believes in democracy and freedom of opinion above all. We've witnessed enough bloodshed for those values to know that preventing them, especially in my own bunker would dishonor the memory of the friends we lost, like Skip, Wheels and Quickfire.

Anonymous said...

Don't forget Guns, who we suspiciously have not heard from for a long, long time. How did you finally manage to off him, lt.Col?

Anonymous said...

"they also contest that rejection of the Treaty would greatly sideline Ireland's influence in the EU decision making process and its ability to shape future policy"

This didn't happen to France and the Netherlands when they rejected the Constitution, so why to Ireland?
As indeed, most non-British politicians, say Lisbon and the Constitution are the same thing.

I can't speak for mainland European countries, but opposition in the UK comes from both left and right.

Dahar Master said...

I never thought I'd agree with the colonel (or fine fail)but the yes vote has to succeed, goodwill goes along way and a no will get rid of all of that! @ 22.13 on the 12th, turnout is low which will help the marxist etc

Anonymous said...

Who would you rather have the goodwill of?
The small political elite who want to steamroller it through, or the masses whose wishes were ignored for the most part?

Anonymous said...

Sithy, the only time the goodwill of the masses is important is on election day and usually they can be brided by election promises.

Anonymous said...

So it's over and thankfully The No side has won , this is a blow for democracy and maybe it'll make europe think again and hopefully ( Although I doubt it) Make other leaders think ( For Britian I think it's only hope is the tories, hardly marxist scum), roll on a united europe with a european army but let it be a democratic Europe oh and Former Grunt I may be a c##t but I'm a c##t on the winning side!