I must say I found it rather amusing that Ireland wanted to 'stand up for democracy' when they were doing OK and now realise they might lose out in difficult economic circumstances if they kick up a fuss so have stepped back into line.
That's what I was saying a year ago - we were a very strong economy, but also a very dependent one, and pissing off the neighbours/allies over something that is actually far more minor than was originally made out (Lisbon) at a time that it was obvious we were in for an economic downswing, all to spite a government that had only been voted back in shortly beforehand (I've never voted Fianna Fail in my life)... it really was just real-life satire. Of ourselves. By ourselves.
Well, to be clear Billy, we'd be EXACTLY the same mate I'm not saying different. It's amazing how patriotic people are in response to vague and nebulous threats from abroad until they think it's gonna start hitting their pockets.
Great to see that the Irish rumbled Libertas' cheap anti-EU propaganda. The British Conservatives & the Czech/Polish presidents are surely very happy now... Voting on the Lisbon Treaty Ireland Overturns its 'No' to EU Reform For months, Europe had been holding its breath as it looked toward Ireland's Lisbon Treaty referendum on Friday. On Saturday, the result became clear. The country has approved the treaty and cleared the way for European reform. more: CLICK Ireland says 'yes' to EU treaty Irish voters have overwhelmingly approved the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, putting back on track the 27-nation bloc's plans for reform. more: CLICK
If the Czech's and the other lot, (the Poles???), ratify it it's gonna be SOOOO great watching the tories twist and turn trying to come up with a formula that will satisfy their two wings. Hopefully it will become more and more obvious that Cameron and the rest of his public school chinless wonders are just a lot of empty suits full of hot air. Great fun
It will probably be ratified by the time Cameron gets in, so he can just brush it under the carpet. It doesn't matter if he's an empty suit when everything's run from Brussels anyway.
They were towing a very careful line this weekend going into the party conference. You could almost set it to music, as the Today programme presenter quipped to Michael Gove this morning. Cameron isn't actually in that much discomfort - for now, he has an election pledge to make the Treaty subject to a British referendum, which is all his base requires of him. If it's ratified before he wins power, he can shrug it off as a fait accompli over which he no longer has any influence. It'll be Labour's fault for reneging on their own statements about a referendum when in power. A classic "blame the last lot". Of course, Europe will eventually destroy his Premiership, just like it will every Tory government between now and the end of either Britain, the EU or time itself. But that's another day.
I'm pretty sure that Cameron's Czech "ally" Klaus will try everything to prevent Lisbon from being ratified (despite the Irish vote and the Czech parliament's "yes") before the British elections 2010. But let's wait up how successful he'll be...
I would imagine that the conservative bloc in the EU will have some sort of strategy for impeding the ratification process until the Tories take power next May, because they know that a British referendum is the silver bullet for Lisbon. But equally, the anti-democrats within the EU who are driving Lisbon through will have a strategy for preventing this, plus a strategy for working Cameron and his team over once they take power and face the realities of destroying Lisbon at that stage.
Actually, the conservatives in the EU are probably more comfortable with Labor than with the Tories. The Tories have left the conservative bloc in the European Parliament and have aligned themselves with ultra nationalists and other such low-life. BTW, the Lisbon treaty for the first time provides an easy and well defined way to leave the EU. So the Tories should hope that it gets ratified so that they can finally leave the EU without too much fuss...
Small "c" conservative. As to leaving the EU, that's not Tory policy. The right of the party would be sympathetic to an attempt to do so, but the mainstream party does not support this angle. But in any case, as we've already been over in this thread, the alternative to a poor treaty should not simply be to leave the EU entirely. The fact that that is, however, the de facto choice that faces all 27 member states, speaks volumes about the EU's manifest and continuing failures.
Bravo Europe. Once again you expose yourselves for the true political prostitutes that you are. Just remember that your forefathers died for your freedom, died for your soverignty, and all you do is piss it away. Have fun being one big happy nation.
Nailed it right on the head. Political prostitutes who'd do anything for economic gain, even relinquish their sovereignty.
I'm not sure it's even THAT clear, is it? I think most of them like the idea of the EU so that business can direct employment towards whichever group of workers will work for the lowest pay at the time but NONE of them like the idea of workers having an equal say to apply positive restrictions such as the working hours which OUR lot, in their infinite wisdom, opted out of so that we're now free to work the longest hours in Europe. Gee... thanks, Fuzzy Blair, yer fcuking idiot!!! With the tories it will be more of the same with knobs on. Er... OK!
I've always considered the Working Hours Directive to be an argument not worth having. As with every European Law, there are enough holes to make a very decent Gouda out of it, so it's broadly speaking an irrelevance in everyday life. Look at the automotive industry - first sign of genuine meltdown and unions, employers and national governments are huddled together at the end of the table whispering about ways of manipulating the workforce in whatever way is necessary to make the industry stay alive. So what's the point of the legislation? As with so much European stuff, it's a 20th Century solution to a 19th Century problem. It probably stops us all ever going to war again though. Why we got into such a twist on WHD I don't know. I look around me here in Brussels and the only people the regulations "protect" are public sector and services people. People, in other words, who are already smothered in thick layers of union agreements and preferential legislation. The chances of any of that lot working one second more than the 35-hour week, never mind the 48-hour week, are miniscule - in fact, the prospect is laughable. Meantime, the people who don't have that real protection work in economic sectors where there is no real propensity to force people to work longer hours than they are comfortable with. I am technially breaking the law every week here in Belgium - if I tried to work just 35 hours, I wouldn't get half my shit done. I don't see the EU police breaking down the doors of my office to rescue me from this penury though. Pointless nonsense. Oh - and you should see what happens to maximum hours per week when you get a job as a minion to the Eurocrats down at Berlaymont. Try that shit on there and see how far you get. "Irony" - that's French for "legislation".
Wow, another "bright" comment! Instead of talking bullshit (things you have no clue about) ... you'd better tell us why so many journalists get killed in Russia without their murderers being brought to justice.
Damn, I didn't know you're such a huge fan of Tony! Was he really that bad? At least he's a real personality in contrast to Brown & Cameron... Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing him getting the job in Brussels (especially to make a nice "gift" to the Tories ). Unfortunately, his reputation has suffered a lot due to his compliancy concerning the relation to George W. Bush.
I think Tony Blair would be perfect for the job of first President of Europe. An empty suit for an empty job.
The point about the working hours directive is not that nobody can ever break it but that employment can't be 'designed around' breaking it. So was Goebbels! But nah, not a fan because I'm a socialist and he's... well, whatever he is. Unfortunately I suspect we, (the British people that is), are soon going to be reminded of the difference between a socialist, (even a piss-poor one like Blair and Brown), and the alternative.