Maybe Their Constitution Is Just Pining For The Fjords

10:28 pm, 6/20/08

In 2005, the European Union attempted to push through a "European Constitution", such as it was, with Chirach even holding the French polls open two hours extra to try to give supporters extra time to stuff the ballot boxes, and found that Europeans just weren't particularly interested. Referendums failed in France and the Netherlands, and were also expected to fail in Britain, bringing the process to a humiliating close. However, European "President" Jean-Claude Juncker promised that the glorious destiny of the European Union would not be thwarted, and that this process would be repeated again and again until Europeans chose "correctly". Mark Steyn:

"If at the end of the ratification process, we do not manage to solve the problems, the countries that would have said No, would have to ask themselves the question again," "President" Juncker told the Belgian newspaper Le Soir.

Two Italian academics even proposed that "the European Union must not remain paralysed...it must continue and intensify its efforts to relaunch its policies, even by implementing in advance, where possible, the provisions of the Treaty that do not meet with open opposition."

In March, I wrote about the new approach, in which the European Constitution was repackaged as the "Lisbon Treaty", with the will of the people as thoroughly removed from the equation as possible.

Former French president D'Estaing, author of the original constitution, has promised that "all of the original proposals" are included in the Lisbon Treaty, but "hidden or disguised in some way", lest mere citizens try to form their own opinions.

Politicians backing the project have apparently learned their lessons well: Ireland, this time around, will be the only country in which the people are actually given an opportunity to vote on the matter, because a prior legal decision forbids the Parliament from unilaterally surrendering Irish sovereignty. Rumors abound that some European politicians have been "bribed" with the promise of high offices in the unelected European bureaucracy in exchange for their cooperation.

Now, Ireland has voted down the Lisbon Treaty, and European politicians seem to want to push forward anyway

European governments have pledged to continue implementing the EU reform treaty, despite its rejection by Irish voters.

The Irish Prime Minister says there will be no second referendum - which could result in the treaty being scrapped altogether.

"In theory this should kill the treaty dead," said Sky's political correspondent Glen Oglaza.

"The European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said during the course of this campaign that there is no Plan B. Euro-sceptics are pointing out that this was already Plan B - the failed European Constitution was Plan A. They want to know how far down the alphabet we are going to go."

[Mr. Barroso] said he had spoken to Ireland's Premier Brian Cowen and that "he also believed the treaty is not dead, the treaty is alive".

Why does this make me think of Monty Python's "Dead Parrot" sketch?

"In a democracy, the will of the people - as expressed at the ballot box - is sovereign," [Cowen] said.

But he added: "We must not rush to conclusions. The Union has been in this situation before and each time has found an agreed way forward."

Tony Blair had a notable moment of lucidity regarding the original European Constitution: "The evening of the French result, I remember being in Italy with friends, and someone saying, in despair at the vote: "what's wrong with them?" meaning those who voted 'no'. I said "I'm afraid the question is: "what's wrong with us?" meaning "us" the collective political leadership of Europe."

With the Lisbon Treaty, "the way forward" was, in so far as possible, to deny the people a chance to express their will at the ballot box, even though polls suggested that as much as 90% of the British public wanted to have one.

"What's wrong" is that for the aristocracy in Brussels and their agitators, having a free, open, and democratic society is really a tertiary concern. Even in some of Europe's worst dens of collectivism, it seems that many people can still smell how corrupt this is.