Lisbon Treaty should have gone the way of the dodo

The Editor’s letter to the Irish Independent, Friday 8 August 2008:

I believe that under the terms of both EU law and the Irish Constitution, the Lisbon Treaty should have gone the way of the dodo. However, I also know that the EU of recent decades has become wholly undemocratic and that, in Ireland, the treaty will be forced through the Dail by Brian Cowen, without a referendum – but with a dubious ‘special deal’, promising:

(i) the heads of state and government could later decide, through subsequent European Council proceedings, to keep one Commissioner per country. This is already provided for in the treaty;

(ii) the EU will not legislate on abortion, an undertaking given already in 1991 at the time of the Maastricht Treaty;

(iii) that Ireland’s neutrality will not be undermined, which was already given in 2001 at the time of the Nice Treaty;

(iv) that decisions on tax will continue to be governed by unanimity. However, I consider the actions of the European Union to be absolutely undemocratic and believe this treaty should have been dead the moment the Irish people voted ‘No’.

Jim McConalogue, The European Foundation