Post by earl on Jun 26, 2008 14:47:20 GMT
Cowen, tell Barroso and Merkel we've done them a big favour
It was Dick Tuck who reportedly coined the most candid response ever to an electoral defeat, after the people of California rejected him as a candidate for the state senate in 1964. “The people have spoken — the bastards,” he said.
The phrase has been repeated many times, but mainly by commentators and rarely in public by defeated politicians, especially those who have a relationship with the electorate to maintain. Brian Cowen might have been tempted to utter those words sotto voce following the outcome of the Lisbon treaty referendum.
They might have come in useful, too, when the taoiseach was required to give a succinct explanation to his EU colleagues as to why the Irish people rejected the advice of almost the entire political, business, trade union and media establishment.
Cowen seems to have found his peers reasonably sympathetic, however. The patience expressed by Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, and the understanding of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, were reassuring and in stark contrast to the exaggerated moaning of some in the domestic, defeated Yes camp.
Barroso and Merkel are experienced politicians who no doubt suffer exasperation themselves about having to deal with little people who simply don’t understand what’s good for them, won’t do what they’re told and don’t appreciate what their selfless political masters do on their behalf. That doesn’t mean they can carry on regardless.
Cowen knew that he could not distance himself from the decision of the Irish people and acknowledged as much on Thursday evening in Brussels in his speech to other heads of government. The EU heads of state must accept the same truth: the response to Lisbon can’t simply be a question of forcing the Irish people to change their minds.
That’s not to deny that Cowen is in a tricky diplomatic position. The taoiseach has to protect Ireland’s position in the EU. Unfortunately, some have chosen to try to stir things up for Ireland, mischievously and wrongly seeking to interpret our vote as a stepping stone towards eventual departure from the union.
That entirely misrepresents the intention of the Irish people. It is also an arrogant dismissal of their right to dissent from the automatic endorsement of decisions that the political establishment wishes to impose upon them.
When Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, the former Danish foreign minister, patronisingly suggested “the merry people of the emerald island” should leave the EU, Cowen should have told him to get stuffed. Instead, the government and Fine Gael have chosen to vent their ire by overreacting to the antics of the motley crew of bandwagon jumpers who wore green jerseys in the European parliament to show their “support” for Ireland. Theirs is support of convenience, better ignored by everybody.
Our MEPs — most notably Fine Gael’s Avril Doyle and Gay Mitchell — and Cowen in the Dail couldn’t resist the temptation to lash out, however. “Look at the type of people you’re associating with” has been the implicit, and at times explicit, message to No voters.
This insults the majority of people who voted no for all sorts of considered reasons, not just because they didn’t know what was in the treaty — which remains a valid reason.
Some in the Yes camp have sought to rerun the campaign and to blame the outcome on dishonesty by the No side. Indeed, some of the treaty’s supporters are behaving like Paul Galvin, the Kerry football captain who slapped the notebook out of the referee’s hand when he realised he was being sent off. Some have excused the player’s behaviour on the grounds that the referee was misinformed as to what had happened to their hero, whose actions therefore could be excused.
Equally, many on the Yes side would cheerfully have knocked the ballot papers out of the hands of No voters on the basis that they didn’t know what was going on and were about to perpetrate an injustice.
There’s no doubt that fears about abortion, euthanasia, military conscription and loss of our tax sovereignty influenced some No voters, but I have come across plenty who voted Yes only because they didn’t want to be on the same side as those scaremongers.
These two constituencies may not have cancelled each other out, but the size of the No margin was substantial enough to suggest a real disquiet as to how Lisbon would have facilitated an overreaching EU state.
Irish voters may have saved the EU from following a course of action that ultimately would have alienated the political establishment even more from the people they represent.
Lisbon can be renegotiated or amended, even if that pains the other 26 member states, although I’ll bet that each member would be happy to get its European commissioner back. They’d also be relieved if efforts to enforce a common tax base (not part of Lisbon, but awaiting its endorsement) are abandoned.
Irish ministers should quietly be telling their counterparts that Irish people have presented the EU with an opportunity that should be embraced.
Instead the political establishment, here and in Europe, is telling us that we are facing a crisis. This is difficult to believe when you remember that some of them told us before the referendum that a No vote would mean the EU would not be able to progress. Now we are told that the actual consequence of voting No is that the EU will progress, but that we won’t be part of it. Why should we believe the crisis stuff when the EU’s political mechanisms continue to work without Lisbon, just as they have since the union expanded from 15 to 27 states?
The real problems facing Europe have nothing to do with bureaucratic and procedural tangles. They are economic and the Lisbon treaty has no bearing on them.
Irish voters may eventually realise that the European Central Bank has been applying an inappropriate interest-rate policy to the euro, as far as we are concerned. They may also remember how we were told that it was impossible and dangerous for us to stay out of the eurozone and how Britain would have to join its embrace. It didn’t.
The euro has brought many ills to Ireland, including the wrong interest rates (too low and too high at different times) to suit our circumstances and exchange rates that have left us vulnerable in our relationship with sterling and the dollar. Misguided enthusiasm about joining the euro got the better of us, even though few want to admit it.
Remember that the next time somebody tells you that unless we endorse Lisbon we’re doomed.
It was Dick Tuck who reportedly coined the most candid response ever to an electoral defeat, after the people of California rejected him as a candidate for the state senate in 1964. “The people have spoken — the bastards,” he said.
The phrase has been repeated many times, but mainly by commentators and rarely in public by defeated politicians, especially those who have a relationship with the electorate to maintain. Brian Cowen might have been tempted to utter those words sotto voce following the outcome of the Lisbon treaty referendum.
They might have come in useful, too, when the taoiseach was required to give a succinct explanation to his EU colleagues as to why the Irish people rejected the advice of almost the entire political, business, trade union and media establishment.
Cowen seems to have found his peers reasonably sympathetic, however. The patience expressed by Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, and the understanding of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, were reassuring and in stark contrast to the exaggerated moaning of some in the domestic, defeated Yes camp.
Barroso and Merkel are experienced politicians who no doubt suffer exasperation themselves about having to deal with little people who simply don’t understand what’s good for them, won’t do what they’re told and don’t appreciate what their selfless political masters do on their behalf. That doesn’t mean they can carry on regardless.
Cowen knew that he could not distance himself from the decision of the Irish people and acknowledged as much on Thursday evening in Brussels in his speech to other heads of government. The EU heads of state must accept the same truth: the response to Lisbon can’t simply be a question of forcing the Irish people to change their minds.
That’s not to deny that Cowen is in a tricky diplomatic position. The taoiseach has to protect Ireland’s position in the EU. Unfortunately, some have chosen to try to stir things up for Ireland, mischievously and wrongly seeking to interpret our vote as a stepping stone towards eventual departure from the union.
That entirely misrepresents the intention of the Irish people. It is also an arrogant dismissal of their right to dissent from the automatic endorsement of decisions that the political establishment wishes to impose upon them.
When Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, the former Danish foreign minister, patronisingly suggested “the merry people of the emerald island” should leave the EU, Cowen should have told him to get stuffed. Instead, the government and Fine Gael have chosen to vent their ire by overreacting to the antics of the motley crew of bandwagon jumpers who wore green jerseys in the European parliament to show their “support” for Ireland. Theirs is support of convenience, better ignored by everybody.
Our MEPs — most notably Fine Gael’s Avril Doyle and Gay Mitchell — and Cowen in the Dail couldn’t resist the temptation to lash out, however. “Look at the type of people you’re associating with” has been the implicit, and at times explicit, message to No voters.
This insults the majority of people who voted no for all sorts of considered reasons, not just because they didn’t know what was in the treaty — which remains a valid reason.
Some in the Yes camp have sought to rerun the campaign and to blame the outcome on dishonesty by the No side. Indeed, some of the treaty’s supporters are behaving like Paul Galvin, the Kerry football captain who slapped the notebook out of the referee’s hand when he realised he was being sent off. Some have excused the player’s behaviour on the grounds that the referee was misinformed as to what had happened to their hero, whose actions therefore could be excused.
Equally, many on the Yes side would cheerfully have knocked the ballot papers out of the hands of No voters on the basis that they didn’t know what was going on and were about to perpetrate an injustice.
There’s no doubt that fears about abortion, euthanasia, military conscription and loss of our tax sovereignty influenced some No voters, but I have come across plenty who voted Yes only because they didn’t want to be on the same side as those scaremongers.
These two constituencies may not have cancelled each other out, but the size of the No margin was substantial enough to suggest a real disquiet as to how Lisbon would have facilitated an overreaching EU state.
Irish voters may have saved the EU from following a course of action that ultimately would have alienated the political establishment even more from the people they represent.
Lisbon can be renegotiated or amended, even if that pains the other 26 member states, although I’ll bet that each member would be happy to get its European commissioner back. They’d also be relieved if efforts to enforce a common tax base (not part of Lisbon, but awaiting its endorsement) are abandoned.
Irish ministers should quietly be telling their counterparts that Irish people have presented the EU with an opportunity that should be embraced.
Instead the political establishment, here and in Europe, is telling us that we are facing a crisis. This is difficult to believe when you remember that some of them told us before the referendum that a No vote would mean the EU would not be able to progress. Now we are told that the actual consequence of voting No is that the EU will progress, but that we won’t be part of it. Why should we believe the crisis stuff when the EU’s political mechanisms continue to work without Lisbon, just as they have since the union expanded from 15 to 27 states?
The real problems facing Europe have nothing to do with bureaucratic and procedural tangles. They are economic and the Lisbon treaty has no bearing on them.
Irish voters may eventually realise that the European Central Bank has been applying an inappropriate interest-rate policy to the euro, as far as we are concerned. They may also remember how we were told that it was impossible and dangerous for us to stay out of the eurozone and how Britain would have to join its embrace. It didn’t.
The euro has brought many ills to Ireland, including the wrong interest rates (too low and too high at different times) to suit our circumstances and exchange rates that have left us vulnerable in our relationship with sterling and the dollar. Misguided enthusiasm about joining the euro got the better of us, even though few want to admit it.
Remember that the next time somebody tells you that unless we endorse Lisbon we’re doomed.