A glimmer of hope still on the horizon

The fate of Europe still hangs in the balance, with just one man, Vaclav Klaus, the Czech President, holding out for the people of Europe. The Times today has reported that his application for an amendment to the Lisbon Treaty is now being supported by his own Government, which looks like a major U-turn from them, having previously been encouraged to consider impeaching the President:

After an emergency Cabinet meting this morning, Jan Fischer, the Czech Prime Minister, said that he would put President Klaus's call for a human rights opt-out to the next European summit on October 29

Many, of course, believe that this is very much a delaying tactic, in the hope that the Tories win the next General Election in the UK and hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty immediately, as David Cameron has promised.

It is a sad day when the people of Europe are denied a say on their own future by an anti-democratic conspiracy of European leaders seeking to create a new European superstate. Thank goodness we have Vaclav Klaus, who is willing to risk his political career both at home and internationally to stand up for the right of the public to decide our own future.

Libertas accounts published

For anyone interested, the EU election returns have been published by the Electoral Commission. Our 'return' is here and the invoice sheet is here.

In total, including a large amount of notional expenditure, Libertas spent £98,050 on the June EU elections. That compares reasonably to the No2EU campaign that spent £89K and achieved a similar percentage of the vote.

Campaign posters

Here are a couple of current campaign posters from Ireland:

Democracy for sale in Ireland?

Since Brian Cowen has run away from the Lisbon debate and left it to Michael O'Leary of RyanAir to be the principle spokesman for the Yes campaign, it is no surprise that it has become a dirty fight. Oddly, Cowen is using a man who describes his government as 'incompetent' and 'feckless' to fight on his behalf.

Having previously called it 'undemocratic' to force the Irish to vote again, why is Mr O'Leary involved at all? A big clue might have been given when he admitted on television:

“One of the reasons that I am campaigning for a ‘yes’ vote is that our Government is incompetent, yet I need to persuade them to sell me Aer Lingus.”

So the main proponent of the Yes campaign is doing so, by his own admission, to indebt the Irish Government into reversing their block of his takeover bid.

Come on Ireland, kick this grubby Yes campaign to the curb.

No referendum for Britain

Having played the referendum card for the European elections in June, the Tory leader, David Cameron, admitted today that there is no chance of Britain having a referendum. Of course, they hid it behind weasel words, but the reality is obvious.

If Ireland votes No, the Treaty is dead. If Ireland votes Yes, then all that remains is for Poland, Germany and the Czech republic to endorse it before May next year (the likely date of a UK General Election). There is little hope that any of those three countries could hold out long enough for a Tory Government to come into power and hold a referendum.

So the reality is that the Tories will form the next Government in May 2010, in an EU that will probably have had the Lisbon Treaty ratified by all member states and in place for several months. There will be nothing that the Tories can do, especially since their entire intent is to "not let matters rest". I bet the EU leaders are shaking in their boots.

But are the Tories willing to admit that there is nothing that they can do? Of course not; that would be far too honest.

Pro-Lisbon campaign yobs

The Irish Times over the weekend reported on a Libertas press conference that was invaded by a bunch of pro-Lisbon yobs from 'Ireland for Europe' (what kind of illiterate name is that anyway?).

Not willing to allow Libertas to launch its new posters and debate in a civilised manner afterwards, the anti-democrats swamped Declan Ganley trying to cause as much disruption as possible while also shouting over him. They also shoved their own posters over the new Libertas poster, as you can see from the picture.

So not only are the Yes campaign using big business to outspend the No campaign by ten to one (yes, they are spending 10 times as much!), they are seeking to physically disrupt the No campaign as well. All the while, Brian Cowen refuses to debate the treaty in public.

Such is the face of 'democracy' in the EU. Does anyone need another reason to vote No?

Interesting Reading

Two great articles to read. Firstly, the Irish Times seems to have turned over a new leaf and is giving much better coverage of the No campaign. They report on a canvassing evening on a housing estate where just one person said that they would be voting Yes.

Another article in The Post highlights the danger of multinational companies entering into political debate, and the vote swinging cash that they bring with them.

The more I see of this referendum, the more I think that the Yes campaign has massively over-played its hand and we just might see another No result.