Richard Laming
I told the audience that there are two basic arguments against such a referendum, but they are incompatible with each other. I explained both of them, rather than saying which one I preferred.
1. Britain is a parliamentary democracy
The Lisbon treaty is now passed into law. It was debated and voted upon in parliament, which is the British constitutional way of ratifying treaties. It was one thing to try and insert into the ratification bill the requirement to hold a referendum, but it is quite another to go back now that it has had royal assent and reopen the debate. We are told that it is a matter of fundamental constitutional principle, but is that really so? After all, there are plenty of other constitutional issues that advocates of a referendum on Lisbon do not feel so passionate about.
For example, there are many people in this country who would prefer Britain to abolish the monarchy and become a republic. That is at present a settled constitutional matter in British law, but there aren’t many eurosceptics calling for a referendum on it now. Then there is electoral reform. Labour even had a commitment to a referendum on PR in their 1997 general election manifesto. Most eurosceptics at the time, according to their Lisbon principles, should have supported this as a fundamental constitutional issue, but they did not.
And right now, in Scotland, there is the strong demand for a referendum on independence. A constitutional issue if ever there was one. But the eurosceptics in Scotland, for example in the Scottish Tory party, are against there being a referendum. Were the Conservatives to side with the SNP on this, they would have a majority in the Scottish parliament. But the Tories persist in opposing a referendum there.
What all of these three fundamental constitutional issues have in common is that the eurosceptics in general support the majority opinion in parliament, namely monarchy, first past the post voting, and union between England and Scotland. The issue upon which they want a referendum is one where they are in a minority in parliament. The suspicion arises that, in the eyes of its advocates, this is not a matter of constitutional principle at all but rather an attempt to get what they want by other means if parliament will not give it to them itself.
2. Lisbon is the wrong subject for a referendum
The second argument, which is of course incompatible with the first, is that referendums are in fact a good idea, but that the Lisbon treaty is the wrong subject for a referendum on Europe.
Listen to all the criticisms made of the treaty: it enshrines the supremacy of EU law over national law; it doesn’t reduce the burden of regulation or the policies such as the CAP or the CFP; it leaves an unaccountable bureaucracy and does not deal with the democratic deficit. Leaving aside the question of whether these criticisms are in fact valid, they are all in fact criticisms of the EU as such and not of the Lisbon treaty. A No vote on the Lisbon treaty will leave them all unaffected. The only vote that would deal with these public concerns is a vote on EU membership as a whole.
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Over the decades, the European Union (EU) has developed progressively from a goal-oriented economical community into a political union. Although Brussels increasingly makes decisions concerning more and more areas of life, European democracy functions “top-down”. The EU offers its citizens hardly any possibilities to directly influence political decisions.
The EU does not give its citizens a voice. The Europe needs Initiative association recognizes this as a threat to the Union’s future. “We Change Europe” are convinced that it is time to take initiative and to invigorate the concept of a European Citizens’ Democracy.
The Reform Treaty of Lisbon now provides Europeans with a concrete tool for the first time – the “Right of Initiative” that is anchored to Article 11. 4 Treaty of Lisbon. Article 11.4 offers the 400 million eligible EU citizens the possibility to express their opinion in a referendum and thus directly influence European decisions.
At “http://www.we-change-europe.eu” you can vote, if you will get involved in the following two important topics:
We-Enlarge: The Europeans are enlarging their Union!
We-Elect: The Europeans elect their President!
Please click “Yes” or “No” at the “We Change Europe”-Website.
Surely the strongest argument against a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty is that it would almost certainly go against ratification — with potentially catastrophic consequences for Britain. The referendum campaign wouldn’t in practice be about the treaty (hardly anyone would have read it, and only a few more would be familiar with its contents): it would really be a bitter fight between the Europhobes and the pro-Europeans over the issue of UK membership of the EU, with the Tories and the great majority of the print media from The Sun upwards shrilly demanding a No vote. With only an unpopular Labour government and the LibDems, plus the Guardian, supporting the treaty and UK membership of the EU, it wouldn’t stand a chance. If and when the Irish are persuaded to change their vote to a Yes, Britain could then be completely isolated in opposition to ratification as a result of the referendum. It’s unlikely that the rest of the EU would allow the semi-detached Brits to exercise a veto over the ratification of a treaty which almost everyone in Europe knows is necessary and which every single EU government has approved. The result could well be the demotion of the UK to a sort of associate status in the Union, with no power to block EU measures requiring unanimity. Under a Europhobic Tory government some time next year, Britain might even be expelled from the EU altogether. All this could very well follow from a decision to hold a referendum on the treaty. Such a decision would be a crazy act of folly.
Brian
http://www.barder.com/ephems/