Published Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 14:34
by
franciscopolo 
in European democracy & diversity (301 views and 0 comments)
At the same time
I start
writing this article the ratification process for the Lisbon
Treaty is starting at the Spanish Parliament. I can hear the
Foreign Affairs Ministry starting his discourse...
Probably (no to say “for sure”), tomorrow the Spanish newspapers will show on their front pages the results of the Spain vs. Russia soccer game at the Eurocup. The matter of the Treaty will also be shown in those newspapers but it will not be given so much importance.
As you probably know, the Lisbon Treaty is important due to many things: The Fundamental Rights Chart becomes binding, the Treaty creates a common space of liberty, security and justice (it was formerly intergovernmental), the EU gains in its capability to create an international interlocution by creating both the positions of the permanent President of the European Counsel and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, among other things. But there is something much more important.
This Treaty is specially important because it makes the EU to be more democratic. It creates the civil initiative so a million of citizens will be able to suggest the creation of new rules; the European Parliament, our direct representative in the EU gains power and almost nothing can be...
read morePublished Monday, June 23, 2008 at 14:05
by
rikkeindenmark
in European democracy & diversity (513 views and 3 comments)
I hope that this
campaign will still be relevant - in spite the depressing outcome
of the referendum in Ireland (of which I will speak no more for
now!).
Danish Member of the European Parliament, Christel Schaldemose, has started a cross-party campaign for having women represented among the 4 EU top leaders which will - hopefully all! - be appointed during the next year. If the Lisbon treaty is ratified we will see the following very important EU posts:
Have you ever seen a 'family photo' from meetings in the Council? Well, if you haven't allow me to enlighten you: it's black suits, suits and more suits. There are very few women top leaders in Europe. For me there is no doubt that we need a more equal representation of women and men.
Therefore, I encourage you to support Christel's initiative: Sign the online petition or join the
read morePublished Friday, June 13, 2008 at 17:26
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (405 views and 2 comments)
Commenting on reports that there will be a ‘no’ vote in the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen said
“A no to the Treaty is not a no to Europe. There is still so much we need to do together. Europe cannot afford to waste any more time in institutional crisis or pausing for reflection. If we want citizens to support Europe we need to create a Europe for citizens. We need to tackle the insecurities of ordinary people and families – we need to create more and better jobs, we need to tackle climate change and ensure a secure supply of affordable and sustainable energy, we need to manage globalization in a fairer way for all, we need to deal better with migration.”
“The Irish rejection of the Treaty means we will also have to find a solution to the most urgent institutional issues. This may take some thought and some time, but it must not deflect our attention from the real issues facing us.”
On Friday, the No won in the Irish referendum by 53.4 per cent.
read more
Published Friday, June 13, 2008 at 08:52
by
Desmond O'Toole
in European democracy & diversity (398 views and 1 comments)
Well the polls have closed and the ballot boxes are now safely stored away until they are opened at 09h00 (10h00 CET) on Friday morning. As I predicted, a lot of the discussion in the media this evening has been on how many people turned out to vote. If you remember I said that the general view is that a turnout below 40% would suggest a NO vote, while a turnout above 45% would indicate a YES vote. Well, the national broadcaster, RTÉ, is reporting turnout in the region 40-45%, so I'm afraid I cannot offer even an educated guess as to how the Irish people have voted in this referendum! I will be attending the count in Dublin and we are expecting initial results to be available by lunchtime and a formal announcement of the result by about 17h00 (18h00 CET).
One possible indicator of the result is the view of Irish bookmakers. They are offering better odds on the YES side winning and as everyone knows, bookmakers don't like to lose money. It would not be the first time that Irish bookmakers knew more than Irish politicians and journalists about how the people have voted. However, all of this is just idle speculation. We will know on Friday afternoon whether Lisbon will proceed smoothly to ratification across the EU or whether there will be a crisis for the French Presidency of the EU in Brussels.
... read morePublished Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 09:49
by
Desmond O'Toole
in European democracy & diversity (345 views and 0 comments)
From 7h00 to 22h00 on
Thursday (8h00 to 23h00 CET) polling stations across Ireland will
be open and the great game of democracy will be played out with
pencil and ballot paper. Three million citizens across 43
constituencies will vote Tá (YES) or Níl (NO) to amend our
constitution and allow our government to ratify the Lisbon Treaty.
There are over three million citizens registered to vote in this
referendum, the largest number ever in the history of the State.
And the smart money says that voter turnout will be the key to the
final result.
The Irish people had to vote twice to ratify the Nice Treaty. In the first referendum in 2001 the Irish people voted NO by 529,000 votes to 453,000 on a turnout of 35%. At the second referendum a year later we voted YES to Nice by 906,000 votes to 535,000 on a much larger turnout of 49%. Almost all of the extra turnout was YES voters who had abstained in the previous referendum. The big question is whether the same pattern will repeat itself this time? If the NO side has so confused and alienated people from the EU that many decide not to vote and we have a low turnout, then we will lose the referendum and Ireland will fail to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. If, however, the Irish people refuse to be misled by the NO side and instead recognise that Lisbon is important for...
read morePublished Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at 12:11
by
Desmond O'Toole
in European democracy & diversity (410 views and 2 comments)
Three wise men
(yes, men, I'm afraid!), step forward, button up their jackets and
prepare to argue the case for Lisbon. In this photo are the leaders
of the three largest parties in Ireland. From left to right are
Eamon Gilmore of the Labour Party (PES/PSE), Taoiseach Brian Cowen
of Fianna Fáil (UEN) and Enda Kenny of Fine Gael (EPP-ED). They
appeared at a joint press conference yesterday to make a united
call for a YES vote and today, the last day before the
referendum, I'd like to inform everyone of the YES
campaign.
When I described the NO campaign yesterday I talked about the lessons that we need to learn about how disconnected a large minority of citizens are to the EU and the need to put the real benefits of EU membership to our citizens rather than spend so much time discussing institutions and processes. However, I noticed in the Irish Times this morning that Daniel Cohn-Bendit (G-EFA) has joined Bernard Kouchner in attacking Irish democracy. He is reported as calling the Irish ungrateful to Europe, our referendum a "folly" and that, "... if one says NO, one leaves Europe." It is precisely this sort of language and these sorts of threats that socialists and social democrats across Europe must avoid when addressing European citizens. It is precisely...
read morePublished Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 09:45
by
Desmond O'Toole
in European democracy & diversity (442 views and 3 comments)
With three days to go
to the referendum on Thursday Bernard Kouchner (French Foreign
Minister) made an unwelcome intervention in the debate in Ireland
claiming that if the Irish rejected the Lisbon Treaty we would face
"... gigantic incomprehension" from our European partners and "...
would pay a high price." Given M. Kouchner's incomprehension it is
perhaps worth examining why the Irish might vote NO on Thursday and
whether this might throw some light on why citizens across Europe
are often lukewarm in their support for the EU and for our
party.Published Monday, June 9, 2008 at 10:14
by
Desmond O'Toole
in In the spotlight (423 views and 2 comments)
Dia dhaoibh a
chairde agus fáilte ó Éireann! Hello to everyone and greetings
from Dublin! I'm delighted to have been asked to blog this week
from Ireland because this is the week that the Irish people vote
in the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. During this week I will
be reporting from the Labour Party campaign in Ireland and
discussing the key themes and issues that we are addressing.
To begin, however, it might be useful if I sketch the background
to this referendum. When we Irish people gave ourselves a
Constitution (Bunreacht na hÉireann) in 1937 we determined that
any changes to that Constitution could only be made with the
explicit consent of the people in a referendum. As the Lisbon
Treaty involves the transfer of a number of sovereign powers to
the European Union the Irish people have to be consulted directly
for that to happen.
Ireland has benefitted immensely from our membership of the EU.
Our economy and infrastructure have grown rapidly in large part
due to the Single Market and structural and cohesion funding. Our
agriculture and rural communities have secured long-term success
and security due to the Common Agricultural Policy and other
farming supports. Our environmental and social policies have been
greatly enhanced due to legislation from Brussels. But...
Published Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 10:20
by
jan.kreutz
in New Social Europe (442 views and 0 comments)
Dear
comrades,Published Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at 10:36
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (494 views and 1 comments)
Last Wednesday
evening around 18h30. In the renovated Brigittines chapel in
Brussels Sp.a co-workers are getting nervous. This
evening we present our input for the PES manifesto. We have
worked hard to provide for an interesting program (attached), but
can it compete with the beautiful spring evening?
At 7 o’clock our fears prove to be unfounded. Sp.a International
Secretary Saïd
El Khadraoui can introduce the evening before approximately
80 people. We kick off with a debate about New Social
Europe. Europe has done pioneering work on certain domains,
but it turns out that a lot more can be gained at European level.
For example, the health services directive that we are still
waiting for. There is no discussion about the need for a more
social approach of the Lisbon objectives. But ambitious and
enforceable European objectives concerning social themes are a
logical next step. The conclusions run parallel: Europe has a lot
of instruments at his disposal, but lacks ambition and
decisiveness when it comes to social themes. Political action
pays off, that becomes clear in dossiers such as the adjusted
Bolkenstein directive. As...
Tags: democracy, energy, environment, health, political parties, transparency, treaty, welfare
File:
manifesto_spa_FR.pdf,
flyer_spa.pdf
Published Thursday, April 24, 2008 at 11:33
by
Isabella_Frenning
in European democracy & diversity (632 views and 3 comments)
If you take a look at the home page of the Danish Parliament today, it will inform you that the items of the agenda today are local funding, cultural inequality and housing projects.
Only far down the text will it tell you about the main topic for discussion: Denmark is to adopt the Lisbon Treaty today. Though most parties has been trying to avoid any discussion about the treaty since the French and Dutch 'no', you will be able to follow the discussions live here.
Fingers crossed, we might have an agreement later on today...
read morePublished Wednesday, December 19, 2007 at 10:04
by
marco
in European democracy & diversity (916 views and 0 comments)
Published Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 10:33
by
marco
in European democracy & diversity (1097 views and 2 comments)
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