Lisbon Treaty

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1) Loss of national sovereignty
Since the Lisbon Treaty is a constitution that lays down the foundation of a new federal state of the European Union, ratifying the treaty implies the loss of national sovereignty of each EU-state, in legal, political and economical terms. All the other negative consequences, such as loss of neutrality, higher prices and higher taxes, loss of public services and privatisation of healthcare, along with an endless list of unforeseeable effects, are the secondary outcomes of the loss of sovereignty under Lisbon. This is one of the main reasons the pro-Lisbon advocates deny the fact that the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty entails the loss of national sovereignty of the member states.

2) A constitution to cheat 500 million
The text of the Lisbon Treaty is the same as that of the former EU Constitution, under different name and with different presentation. The European Commission and the national governments of the EU countries deny this fact in order to avoid putting this Treaty on referendums. This act amounts to a grand-scale deceit to misinform nearly 500 million citizens and to make them unknowingly accept a new constitution of a new federal state. By such act the political class of Europe forcefully imposes new citizens’ rights and obligations onto nearly 500 million citizens, and deprive them of their current voting competencies.

3) The undemocratic process of Lisbon
Propaganda and deceit are by definition methods of undemocratic forces rather than of democracies. “Dictatorship is one of the two chief forms of government in use today. Modern dictators usually use force or fraud to gain power and then keep it through intimidation, terror, suppression of civil liberties, and control of the mass media.� (Encyclopædia Britannica).
The implementation of the Lisbon Treaty by means of deceit is the end of the nation states of Europe, end of political freedom and the end of democracy in Europe.
Because the Lisbon Treaty is a constitution the referendum on this treaty in all of the EU-states would be the absolute requirement of the democratic foundation of a new federal state. A new constitution is the fundamental set of laws defining the rights and obligations of the citizens and defining the type of the system (democratic or other) they will be governed by; therefore the citizens’ direct approval of the new system would be the a priori requirement to satisfy the principles of democracy in the process of constitutionalisation. However, in the case of Lisbon Treaty, the citizens of 26 EU countries out 27 countries are not granted the democratic constitutional right for general elections to express their decision on the new federal constitution.
Rather than following the democratic process of constitutionalisation, the leaders of Europe have utterly contradicted the voters’ voice expressed via the former French and Dutch referendums. With the European Parliament having ratified the Lisbon Treaty long before the results of the Irish referendum on the Treaty, the EU has revealed its utter lack of respect for the voice of people of Ireland as well.
It is a contradiction in terms to guarantee a region of democracy, security and rule of law, and to establish a new political system in the respective region by the very act of abolishing the voters’ ultimate right to have a say on the system to be implemented. While the EU and the national political class resort to totalitarian means to pursue their ambitions, they use derogatory labels like “nationalism�, “xenophobia�, and the false application of the terms “terrorism� and “racism�, etc. to neutralise the voices of democracy, and to suppress the European voters’ rightful and lawful self-defence against the undemocratic process of Lisbon.

4) Undemocratic constitution – wide gap between promises and realisation[
The Lisbon Treaty itself and its supporters claim that the treaty's provisions will actually implement a democratic system, and the treaty will even “improve democracy�. However, based on the very text of the Lisbon Treaty, the exact opposite is true. So far only the “NO to Lisbon� groups could substantiate their claims by the actual text and of an objective analysis of the implications of the Treaty. As opposed to the statements of the advocates of Lisbon Treaty, this treaty is a profoundly undemocratic constitution designing a profoundly undemocratic political system, in which the essential legislative powers of the national parliaments are transferred to a distant, unaccountable and unelected group of bureaucrats, the European Commission. The Lisbon Treaty is a constitution with provisions protecting the new federal state against its citizens, rather than protecting the citizens against the abuse of powers by the state. The system the treaty designs is without effective checks and balances of powers, which would be required as per the principles of democracy.

5) Radical loss of actual influence of the voters on the political decisions
For all EU-countries, but especially for the smaller countries like Ireland, the loss of national sovereignty under Lisbon implies a further loss of democratic influence on the political decisions. As of today the voters of each EU-country delegate ALL of their representatives by general elections into their national parliament. The electorate is represented with 100% coverage of the decisions made by their respective national parliament. However, under the Lisbon Treaty the voters of each EU-country can delegate by general election only a fragmental representation into the European Parliament and the Council, the members of which will however exercise powers over ALL citizens of Europe. This fragment equals the percentage determined by the country size divided by the entire size of the EU. In the case of Ireland, this percentage will be 12/751 =1.5%. The Irish voters’ ability to influence the overall decisions made by their political lead will therefore be reduced from 100% to 1.5%.

6) Loss of permanent representation in the Commission
After 2014 the EU-states lose their right to a permanent Commissioner. In any 5 year term only two-third of the EU-countries will be represented in the Commission, in the ultimate decision-making body, which will shape the all-time strategies and the very direction of the EU. Because smaller countries like Ireland will not have significant say via other EU-institutions either, for Ireland the loss of permanent commissioner entails the absolute lack of influence on the decisions of the EU.

Voting NO to Lisbon Treaty does not mean rejecting alliance among the countries of Europe; it means a demand for restoring the voters’ rights and other guiding principles of democracy, rule of law and constitutionalism in Europe. It means asking for an accountable political lead, and for a transparent and truly democratic system established on a genuine debate and factual agreement between the leaders and voters of Europe. The optimal alternative of the Lisbon Treaty is to retain the sovereignty of the nation states and to design a truly democratic European system in which a strong yet free alliance among the countries of Europe is developed under the constitutional control of the voters over their own national governments and over the decisions of the EU.

suzie_k:

It also infringes on the justice system where by the European court can over rule our Supreme Courts ruling.

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I also don't really get what your information means by the 'undemocratic processes of Lisbon'

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Is it a Constitution or a Treaty?

In 2005 the people of France and the Netherlands voted against the EU Constitution. It was a serious blow to the European politicians and bureaucrats who had devised and promoted the new Constitution. It also taught them a valuable lesson: that while voters were prepared to support an economic union, they balked at the very obvious creation of a United States of Europe, complete with a President,an anthem and a flag.

So the politicians and high-ranking civil servants went back to the drawing board and came up with the Treaty of Lisbon. According to themselves it retained all of the important features of the EU Constitution, but it could now be simply passed off as a Treaty. That clever move meant that the French, the Dutch, the English and all the other voters across the EU except the Irish were no longer entitled to vote on it.

So is it a Constitution or a Treaty?

Here's what Bertie Ahern said:

"Thankfully they haven't changed the substance (of the Constitution);90 per cent of it is still there."
An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, Irish Independent, 24 June 2007

And Minister Dermot Ahern agreed.

"The substance of what was agreed in 2004 has been retained. What is gone is the term 'constitution' ".
Dermot Ahern, Irish Foreign Minister, Daily Mail Ireland, 25 June 2007

It does not simply reform what went before - it creates, for the first time, a European Federation.

suzie_k:

Also being one of the smaller countries of the E.U our voting weight in parliament will be cut by 66%, where as a larger countries, like Germanys would be increased by 110%.
Meaning our voice and the voice os smaller European countries will not be heard.

Bloodraine:

Also, how is it undemocratic for the Lisbon Treaty to be imposed because France and the Netherlands voted against the EU Constitution? Firstly, they haven't had a referendum on Lisbon, and even if they did, if the majority of EU states supported it, it wouldn't be undemocratic to impose the treaty on France and the Netherlands. Not every voter in Britain voted for Labour, doesn't make them democratically illegitimate. Democracy does not mean getting what you want all the time.

Bloodraine:

'it will destroy democrarcy'

suzie_k:

Democrasy was lost back in 2005 when they took your right to vote away.

Bloodraine:

suzie_k:

Democrasy was lost back in 2005 when they took your right to vote away.

Yeah, but how did they take it away? Ignoring the voters happens all the time. It is not the same as taking away the actual right to vote.

Adnd you might as well just say that democracy within the EU was lost back in the eighties with the single european act. Honestly, I don't see why the Constitution/Lisbon treaty is being blamed so much for this, it has been happening all along.

Bloodraine:

(I like how we're the only people who actually care about the EU btw)

suzie_k:

So it looks like we are being made vote again in October.
How democratic.