Lisbon: Stairway to Heaven or Road to Ruin?

Today people in the Republic will go to the polls to either make or break the history of the European Union. Living in the north makes me personally unqualified to vote, but the decisions made by the rest of the Irish nation will have far reaching effects and consequences.

Anyone in Europe who has an interest in politics can't deny the sense of anticipation surrounding this, and we have heard various arguments for and against the ratification of Lisbon. Yet what would it mean in either case?

I'm not necessarily anti Europe in all its forms. The EU has served a good role in the past, helped encourage inter European peace and dialogue, and developed a working knowledge and sensitivity to other European cultures. However, the direction in which the Union is headed is somewhat alarming, especially from an Irish perspective.

The proponents of the "Yes" vote in the Republic have phrased the question thus: "Can Ireland really afford to be the only European country not to ratify the Reform Treaty?" This does have a few valid points for consideration. For example there is the whole economic question. The Celtic Tiger has grown in no small part due to European investments and the free market economy. The Euro, it is claimed, actually helped the Republic to achieve more financial freedom from the folk across the water than it ever had since the time of independence. As people who are alive who can testify to the momumental nature of economic change south of the border can testify, money matters alot.

But the question has to be asked conversely "Can Ireland really afford to ratify the Treaty on behalf of all Europe?" Such a monumental shift in the powers and legislature of the EU, which affects all European citizens, should surely be put to referendum in all member states, not just our own. Is that not the very nature of democracy?

Thank God for Bunreacht na hÉireann. At least at the moment it guarantees the right of Irish citizens to vote in referendum on all such issues according to article 46.2:

Every proposal for an amendment of this Constitution shall be initiated in Dáil Éireann as a Bill, and shall upon having been passed or deemed to have been passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas, be submitted by Referendum to the decision of the people in accordance with the law for the time being in force relating to the Referendum.

This freedom enshrined in Irish law is one of the principal guarantors of Irish freedom and democracy. It's this freedom that is being threatened by the Lisbon Treaty. As far as I understand it, any further reforms to the European treaty would not be subject to referendum, thereby undermining Irish national law.

In addition, the EU would be able to take a seat at the United Nations and, regardless of the fact that all member states are different with different perspectives on international issues, represent the Union in foriegn affairs. So much for national soverignty.

The whole thing smacks of a repeat of the old Act of Union (1800), but on a much larger scale. We've spent hundreds of years struggling for freedom from an empire and the right to decide our own destiny, and still haven't even achieved that for all of our nation. Yet for some reason people in the Republic are being encouraged to sell not only Ireland but every other member state whose citezens do not get a right to vote on this issue into another, larger body which will again have no respect for our right to decide our future for ourselves! It seems ludicrous to me.

As a bystander on the whole process, I (and countless other Europeans with me), can only wait with bated breath hoping for a "Nil" vote. If not only to protect Irish democracy and national soverignty, but also in protest to the unfair and distinctly anti democratic fashion in which our fellow European citizens won't get to have their say.

It's all in the hands of the Republic now. Let's hope the people make the right decision.