Referendums are “a tool for dictators” says Sarkozy advisor

[orieleye]

Adviser to Sarkozy threatens Ireland will split the EU if it doesn’t ratify Lisbon Treaty; says referendums are “a tool for dictators”

04 July 2008


Alain Lamassoure, French MEP and close advisor to Nicolas Sarkozy, has told the Irish Times that Ireland was wrong to hold a referendum, which is “a tool for dictators.” He said: "If you hold 10 or 12 referendums and in every state there is 80 per cent support for an idea there is still only a less than 1 per cent probability that the measure will pass everywhere.” He warned that Ireland could spark a major crisis capable of splitting the EU if it cannot ratify the Lisbon Treaty by next spring. He said it was up to the Government to determine how it could pass the Treaty through either a new referendum or a majority in the Dáil.

He said Taoiseach Brian Cowen had only a few months to solve the problem ahead of next year's European elections in June: "Nobody outside Ireland can say what will be needed in Ireland, neither on the content nor on the procedure. What we can tell the Irish is the deadline, the calendar that we all need.” He rejected the idea that French pressure to ratify Lisbon despite the Irish No vote was capable of splitting the Union. "It is not us that run the risk of splitting the Union. If the other 26 ratify and Ireland is the only country not to ratify it is up to Ireland to say we are ready to split the Union, to kick off a huge crisis in the Union."

Lamassoure effectively ruled out the possibility that the current legal base for the Union provided by the Nice Treaty could continue to be used into future: "We are paralysed by the unanimity rule and we pass legislation through undemocratic procedures… we have a duty to grant our citizens more power. Power is exercised in the EU through very obscure procedures devised half a century ago to run what was then a single customs union. This cannot run a fully fledged political union." Lamassoure also announced an initiative at a conference held by the EPP-ED group in the European Parliament to propose a single EPP candidate for the post of president of the European Commission next spring before the European elections.

Meanwhile, the Irish Independent reports that Irish MEP Gay Mitchell has questioned whether Ireland should have referendums in the future, saying, "We have to ask ourselves about this form of instrument of public policy…Is a referendum the right vehicle?" He also argued that some of the Lisbon Treaty should have been cleared by legislation, leaving the rest to a plebiscite. At the same time Mr. Mitchell added; "The last thing we need now is (French) President (Nicolas) Sarkozy riding into town with instructions and advice. What we need now is reflection by the Irish people themselves."
Irish Independent Irish Times


Czech President: I hope Lisbon won’t be approved

AFP reports that Czech President Vaclav Klaus said in an interview with Czech daily Lidove Noviny yesterday: “I hope that the Constitutional Court or the Senate will not allow the adoption of Lisbon here.” He said: "I expect heavy pressure to create an EU a la Francaise. Our position is different out of necessity and we must make an effort for the EU not to develop in a manner the French and the rejected Lisbon (treaty) are attempting to impose.” Meanwhile Polish President Lech Kaczynski said in response to efforts by Sarkozy to urge him to ratify the Treaty, “Pressure sometimes has the opposite effect from what's expected.”

According to Agence Europe Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer has defended his intention to put any future amendments to the Lisbon Treaty to a referendum, saying, “We have only 28% support in Austria in favour of the EU. One third of the population is fiercely opposed to the Union. Between the two, there are the sceptics. If we do not deal with the sceptics, there will soon be 50% or more tough opponents to the EU”. In Süddeutsche Zeitung yesterday he said imposing referendums is “one of the few ways to make any political class explain itself to the population”.
EUbusiness Irish Times

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[Der]

“Referendums a tool for dictators”? I wonder if this idiot would have come up with this nonsense if the Irish vote had been a yes to the Union's damned Treaty.

[Menydh]

Referendums are actually the most direct form of democracy. Dictators may use them in a deceitful manner. But it is democratic regimes that use them deceitfull more often.

To reject the outcome of a referendum and attempt to dictate a line opposed to that expressed by the will of the people in a referendum, seems to me a more clear form of dictatorship tool.

Sarkozy is a shameless moron.

[Llywarch Hen]

I suppose they were thinking of Napoleon III with this 'tool of dictators' thing? I remember at school that we were taught that he used them as a means of getting round the political class. Beyond that statement we didn't hear any more - did he make use of them often? How is this viewed by the historians today in France?

[Marcus Marulus]

And I thought I heard it all....