Madam, – My late wife worked as a social worker for many years where one of the key concepts was that of “the presenting problem”. Clients would walk into her room referred with an alcohol problem when the real problem which emerged was that they had been sexually abused as a child by a close relative.
Women presenting with “nervous” problems or depression were actually still being beaten by their partners.
The Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, has just committed to the European Council to ratify the Lisbon Treaty if Ireland’s “presenting problems” of loss of Commissioner and concerns about neutrality, lack of information, fear of lack of influence, social/ethical issues, threat to workers’ rights, and taxation issues are addressed in a credible manner.
But the real problem now is not just the issues which Mr Cowen has presented to the council. The real problem is Mr Cowen himself, and by making the passing of a second referendum an issue of confidence in himself and his Government, he is handing the Irish people the only means they have in the short term of getting rid of him and his spectacularly unpopular Government.
Undoubtedly, the Government will take a hammering in the June European Parliament and local council elections – for which Libertas is reinventing itself as a pan-European party and promising to run candidates in all 27 member states.
Libertas will attempt to transfer a generalised anger at the Irish political elite to an even more remote and ill-defined EU elite whilst at the same time not offending the Irish people’s basically pro-EU attitude in general.
Libertas is on solid ground when it complains about the complexity and ambiguity of the treaty. However, these issues can be addressed if the accompanying declarations are shown to be legally binding. The real issue is that the Irish people will not want to hand Mr Cowen a victory.
Perhaps a drubbing in the June elections will sate the popular anger and allow for a clearer focus on Ireland’s position within the EU for the October referendum. However, a well-financed Libertas campaign will probably skilfully exploit the sense that Ireland as the underdog is also representing many disillusioned and disenfranchised democrats throughout Europe who have been denied a direct vote on the treaty.
However, in a peculiar way a Libertas victory in June might also facilitate a referendum Yes in October – as those concerned at the “democratic deficit” within the EU will now have their representation in the European Parliament – both for Ireland and for any other member state which elects anti-Lisbon candidates. The true extent of popular anti-Lisbon sentiment throughout Europe can then be ascertained.
And in an even more ironic twist, the emergence of Libertas as a truly European Party (with no parliamentary base within Ireland) will also assist in the development of a European demos as distinct from the national polities of its constituent members.
All may not approve of its leadership, funding, or policies, but it may actually further what many pro-Europeans say they want to see happen – the emergence of a pan-European public space and representative democracy not explicitly linked to national political parties or nationalist politics. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The proposed evolution of Mr Ganley’s Libertas organisation into a pan-European political movement comes as no surprise.
It has become apparent that Libertas aims to undermine the present European Union structures and replace them with weakened and ineffectual ones.
We are still unsure who the puppet master is behind these machinations but one could speculate with some degree of accuracy.
Libertas is not only a danger to Ireland but has the potential to be a global danger.
Let us beware! – Yours, etc,
Madam, – What about one free general election with every Lisbon Treaty referendum re-run? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Under Lisbon Two,would a meaningless portfolio (the Commissioner for Straight Bananas?) have to be created every time a successful applicant was admitted to the club?
If this is indeed the case,it could only serve to dilute, not enhance, the effectiveness of the commission’s work. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Exactly what part of the word “No” does our present Government not understand? – Yours, etc,