I have no opinion whatever on the merits of the Treaty of Lisbon, which treaty’s rejection by the Republic of Ireland’s voters has thrown plans for greater European governmental consolidation into a cocked hat:
DUBLIN, Ireland - Ireland’s voters have rejected the European Union reform treaty, a blueprint for modernizing the 27-nation bloc that cannot become law without Irish approval, electoral officials said Friday.
In a major blow to the EU, 53.4 percent of Irish voters said no to the treaty. Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen now will join other EU leaders at a summit next week to try to negotiate a new way forward.
Anti-treaty groups from the far left and right mobilized “no” voters by claiming that the treaty would empower EU chiefs in Brussels, Belgium, to force Ireland to change core policies — including its low business tax rates, its military neutrality and its ban on abortion.
“This is a very clear and loud voice that has been sent yet again by citizens of Europe rejecting the anti-democratic nature of Brussels governance,” said Declan Ganley, leader of Libertas, the most prominent anti-treaty campaign group in Ireland.
The euro common currency fell to a one-month low on the news.
This isn’t the first time moves closer to a single government for the 27 EU members have been stymied by recalcitrant voters: the proposed EU Constitution was rejected at the polls a couple of years ago. The Treaty of Lisbon was an attempted endrun around the constitutional approval process, which ran into a dead end when France and the Netherlands rejected the constitution in 2005. This is likely to be an important development for European society.
Throughout human history a number of pretexts have been used by one human being to claim the right to tell other human beings what to do. For millennia the mandate of heaven (the “divine right of kings”) was the explanation for why rulers deserved the obedience of the ruled. In democratic societies the right to rule is something seen as being delegated by the people to their leaders rather than descending from the gods.
Technocrats claim the right to rule by virtue of their purportedly superior expertise. They’re impatient about explaining the need for the measures they believe to be required to voters. Voters don’t have the knowledge or background to understand these profundities, anyway. That’s my understanding of one of the key reasons that Irish voters rejected the treaty: the treaty’s proponents couldn’t give a credible explanation in plain language of the benefits of the treaty.
I don’t think we should have any illusions that attempts to implement the measures proposed first in the EU Constitution and later in the Treaty of Lisbon will end here. Proponents will ensure that the next essay won’t be sabotaged by its lack of popular support. The measure will, no doubt, be approved by the governments of the various member countries and with that approval they’ll abandon any pretext that they’re governing by the will of the people. The people, no doubt, will barely notice.
Update
Fellow Watcher’s Council member Wolf Howling is elated:
What you will now hear is loud squealing from the direction of Brussels as the incredibly anti-democratic folks who are determined to make an EU super-state wholly irrespective of the wishes of Europe’s citizens try and figure a way around this. And as the EU Referendum documents, it has already started…
There’s an interesting discussion of the rejection in this post at A Fistful of Euros.
Another discussion in the comments at European Tribune.
The Dissident Frogman reacts as you might expect.
译文:
欧盟改革的未来（更新版）
不管里斯本条约实质怎样，我对它并没有太多地认识。北爱尔兰王国的选民们对这一条约的反对已经使建立更大的欧洲政府联合体的计划进入了死胡同：
都柏林，爱尔兰—投票官方星期五的时候发言说，爱尔兰已经投票反对欧盟的改革条约，没有爱尔兰人民的同意，这个关系着27个国家集体城市化的蓝图是不会变成法律的。
53.4%的爱尔兰选民不同意该条约，这对欧盟是个巨大打击。爱尔兰首相BrianCowen 现在将要参加其他欧盟领导人在下个星期举行的峰会，在此次峰会上会尽力协商出一种更好的办法。
反条约组织从方方面面煽动反对欧盟的选民，他们声称这一条约会加强欧盟在布鲁塞尔和比利时的领导地位，导致爱尔兰改变核心政策——包括它的低商业税率，它的军队中立性以及它对流产的禁止。
“那些反对欧盟管理无民主性的的欧洲居民已经再一次地发出了非常洪亮的声音。”Libertas的领导人Declan Ganley 说，Libertas是爱尔兰最主要的反条约运动组织。新闻报道欧元的现行流通率降到了一个月的最低。
一个拥有27个成员国的单一政府已经不是第一次遇到这种各方面动摇的情况，顽强排斥它的选民们使它进入了进退两难的境地：两年前的民意测验中一向被极力推崇的《欧盟宪法条约》也遭到了选民的抵制。里斯本条约是一次结束追随符合宪法要求过程的尝试，2005年法国和荷兰曾经进行过这种尝试却以失败告终。对于欧洲社会来说，这一次的尝试有可能是一个很重要的进步。
纵观整个人类历史，某些人已经凭借了一大堆的托词向其他人声明自己管理他人的权利。一千多年来，上帝的旨意（即“君权神授”）就是对统治者应该被赋予统治权威的解释。在民主社会里，统治权被看成是人民赋予他们的领导者的权利而不是从上帝那里继承来的。
专家政治论者通过他们优越的专业地位声明他们的统治权利，他们有耐心解释这些应该被选民需要的措施的必需性，但无论如何，选民没有这样的知识和背景去理解这些晦涩难懂的东西。这是我理解的爱尔兰选民排斥条约的几个重要原因之一：条约的支持者们不能够将条约的好处用平实的语言作出让人信赖的解释。
我认为我们不应该有任何的错觉那就是先在欧盟宪法委员然后在里斯本条约推行这些措施的尝试将会在这里终止。支持者们将会保证下一次的尝试将不会因为它缺乏大众的支持而遭到破坏。这一措施毫无疑问将会被各成员国的政府承认，而且在这种承认之下，他们将会抛弃政府管理权来源于人民的意志的托词。毫无疑问，人民将会很少受到重视。
这一争执的现代化
观察者协会的成员Wolf Howling 很高兴：
你现在将会听到从布鲁塞尔方向传过来的刺耳的尖叫声，此时那些让人无法信任的反民主的家伙们须描绘并尝试一条围绕解决这一问题的道路，他们决心建立一个完全不尊重欧洲人民的意愿的欧盟超级大国。而且据欧盟民意调查文件显示，它已经开始了….
在这一期的《欧洲重拳出击》上有关于这次反对浪潮的有趣讨论。
另一次讨论是在《欧洲论坛》的评论上。
就像你期望的那样，Dissident Frogman 网站也展开热烈讨论。