NORMAL LIFE: Ireland Rightly Says No!

Given the complexity of the European Union's current 27-nation membership, it was hardly surprising that Ireland rejected the European Union's Lisbon reform treaty last Friday. The results came through with 53.4% against and 46.6% for, and is seen as a major blow for the European Commission who admit that they have no 'Plan B' should a No vote have become a reality.

The need for a Plan B is more vital than ever since all 27 member states need to ratify the treaty in order for it to become binding. Ironically, this is the third time in as many years that the treaty has failed to obtain the backing of member states. In 2005, French and Dutch voters rejected the wide-ranging draft EU constitution.

I strongly believe that confusion contributed to the Irish vote last Friday. I mean, living in Finland, I have head-on experience of all the bureaucracy around social security, taxation, rights to healthcare and education in your country of residence. Bring in the issue of foreign policy, defence and immigration, and you have a sound basis for anti-European sentiment.

I actually admired Ireland's approach to the Lisbon Treaty. It was the only member state, which was obliged to let the people decide - it's own constitution says that any proposed treaties need to be accepted by the people, not just the elected officials who sit in parliament, filling in their expense claim forms under the guise of looking out for the best interests of their individual constituencies.

One thought keeps lingering in the back of my mind: do we even need a constitution for the EU? Why - or how - should 27 distinctively different nations be bound to one constitution? If the Lisbon treaty were ratified, Britain's interests would be overseen by a newly created EU President, whose term would last thirty months rather than the current six months.

The Lisbon Treaty would also create a single figurehead for EU foreign policy, combining the current roles of both Foreign Policy and Security Chief as well as External Relations Commissioner. I can only imagine that there is a Stalin or Hitler or Milosevic in the European Parliament right now vying to get his hands on one of these positions. Scary!

One of the things that has made nations like Britain powerful is our ability to defend our island. This ability to defend our island has been helped by the fact that both the UK and France have seats on the UN Security Council, a prestigious position which only seven nations hold in 'maintaining international peace and security'. If all countries ratified the Lisbon Treaty, France and the UK would lose their seats and be replaced with one EU seat instead of two which, hello, would water down European influence. Am I the only one who worked out that one is less then two?

The scariest thing of all is that the Lisbon Treaty is self-amending meaning that, without the need to organise an intergovernmental conference, the EU can amend future EU treaties incrementally without consultation. While defence is an area that cannot be amended without consultation, the impacts are otherwise without limitation.

I still maintain: why don't we take some time out to allow EU citizens of the current 27-nation block an opportunity to catch up with what the hell is going on? Maybe, in time, citizens will know what they are signing up for?