06/18/08
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It appears that 1% of the entire citizenry of the EU were able to defeat the constitution. |
So it was introduced again, under the name "The Treaty of Lisbon." This time, the entire European Union accepted it — by vote of their state legislatures. Only one country actually put it to a popular vote — Ireland. Note that in Great Britain the leading political party broke campaign promises to put it to a vote for fear it would be struck down. Similar actions were taken in other countries.
So on Thursday, June 12, 2008, Ireland went to the polls. The political parties all wanted it, yet 53% of the voters rejected it. This was not surprising, given that it weighed in at 260 pages and was full of hypertechnical language.
The anti-treaty folks pointed out that being subject to the EU would raise taxes and force Ireland to lose much of its sovereignty, which was denied by those in favor of the treaty. However, since Ireland is a recent country, its citizens were understandably not ready to cede lots more power to the unelected types in Brussels.
Since the rest of the EU is too afraid to let the public vote, it appears that 1% of the entire citizenry of the EU were able to defeat the constitution — since they were the only ones whose voices mattered at all.
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