Ca chie!

Libe a fait le resume en francais! http://www.liberation.fr/actualite/monde/331420.FR.php

As you know, or maybe you don't, Ireland is the only country in Europe which will hold a referendum for the ratification of the Lisbon treaty. It will be held on June 12th, and the campaign started. The arguments are very low levelled to my mind. The big parties (Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Labour) are threatening the voters with the possible stigma that a no vote would bring to Ireland. This is the only thing that sticks out of the Yes Side (YS). The No Side (NS) is more imaginative, check it out:

The first one is advising a wonderful convincing stuff: doing like other people. I have to mention that France has a kind of revolutionary image in here, much appreciated by lefty people who are desperate about the passivity of their fellow citizens.

On the second one, the YS is saying "in our interest". When you read the leaflets, the treaty is very poorly explained, not sure what kind of clear idea the voters can get from this. Sinn Fein (the poster below) is obviously against it, as they say it will threaten workers' rights and more so they argue that Ireland is such a small country that it would lose its weight in the negotiations. You can have a look here. The young lady is Gerry Adam's new icon, Mary Lou McDonald. She is extremely popular and gives a new face to this party which is struggling with the past and the relationship it had with the IRA.


Here is a version in the Irish language of the campaign for the Yes organised by the Fianna Fail, the largest political party in Ireland, still in power. The funny thing about this Irish version is that it is grammatically incorrect, as answering yes (Ta) to a question doesn't exist in this language. I wonder what the ballot will look like. The poster says "Better for Ireland, better for Europe, vote yes". I don't speak Irish, I asked :)

Then there is a very strong opposition to the Lisbon Treaty in here because a lot of people think it would end the corporate tax rate (tax applied to companies) which is 12.5% and which enabled Ireland to attract so many foreign investments. That is this fear that the poster below exploits:

Here is a "classical" argument against the liberal European Union, represented by the Socialist Party (tiny tiny party)

Another fundamental point when it comes to the opposition to this Treaty is the military aspect. Ireland is a neutral country and has a tiny army (having said that, it has been the basis for an American military base in Shannon for the past thirty years, planes landing here go afterwards directly to Iraq). The treaty plans to have a common defence system and because the text is so vague and does not mention the practicalities of this, a lot of opposition parties are afraid that this will mean Ireland will have to spend much more on military and abandon its neutrality.

And finally there is this one I don't really get. Are they talking about sovereignty, taxation, nation? It is a very risque shortcut to my mind. But this is a very very common one:


I have a very mixed feeling about the whole thing myself. Living in a country that developed mostly thanks to Europe and being able to work and live here the way I do make me feel extremely European, and I voted yes to the Constitution. There is however something extremely nasty about the whole thing: France for example was to my mind so afraid that its people would vote against it that the treaty is ratified by the Parliament. The text itself is absolutely unreadable to anyone who doesn't have a master in European Law. I am not sure this will convince voters that Europe is transparent and democratic. Also, I have to say that if Ireland votes no (and I think it will, surveys are very bad for the yes, and the people not extremely interested about it will not go to vote) we can hope the European leaders will think again about the way they consider their citizens., i.e. as people who can decide for themselves.