Friends, I usually don't post items to this list two days in a row. I like to give people time to look at material before sending more out. But so many stories are breaking these days that it's hard to hold back. I'll give you a relatively short article today, and tomorrow I'll post the promised (and longer) article on "The Ties That Bind China, Russia and Iran". Please let me know how you feel about the frequency-of- postings issue. Comments follow article. rkm -------------------------------------------------------- http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2005/0617/3698454857HM1LEAD.html EU leaders agree to abandon deadline on constitution Mark Brennock and Denis Staunton in Brussels Irish Times 17/06/2005 The Government is set to postpone indefinitely Ireland's referendum on the EU Constitution after the European Summit decided in Brussels last night that the ratification process should be put on hold. European Union leaders agreed to abandon the deadline of November 2006 for ratifying the constitution but said it was up to each member-state to decide when to proceed with ratification. Luxembourg's prime minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, whose country holds the EU Presidency, said that countries planning to hold referendums would need more time to persuade voters of the constitution's virtues. He said the EU needed a period of "reflection, explanation and debate". Mr Juncker said that EU leaders agreed that those countries that had not yet ratified the constitution.would be unlikely to do so by mid-2007, and it was now up to each individual member state to decide how to proceed while a "period of reflection" was launched. The summit's failure to impose a mandatory freeze on ratification means that the Government must decide when Ireland should hold a referendum. The Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said that the constitution remained the best choice for Europe and for Ireland but that the pause should be of "a sufficient period in order to try and convince some sceptical people". Most leaders wanted the suspension of the ratification process to apply to all member-states, although Malta, which has started ratification, argued that each country should decide for itself how to proceed. Mr Ahern said that the Taoiseach had argued that EU leaders should describe the suspension of ratification efforts as a "pause for engagement" rather than a "pause for reflection" as it has been described in advance of the summit. "The Taoiseach led the charge arguing that it should be a period of engagement, a period of selling what we all believe in as a project, and that was picked up by a lot of people," he said. The Taoiseach referred back to Ireland's "No" vote in the first referendum on the Nice Treaty. According to Dermot Ahern he told them "how we tried to engage with civil society, particularly through the Forum for Europe" and how this had led to a Yes vote in the second referendum. Ireland, he said, had had a period of engagement with the people, rather than one of reflection, and this was how the rest of Europe should respond to the anti-Treaty sentiment in many EU member states. He said it had been broadly accepted among the 25 EU heads of state and government that because of the No votes "there is uncertainty in other countries, including our own. To rush into a referendum [ in] the atmosphere of indecision would be injudicious", he said. Mr Juncker said that ratification of the constitution would proceed and that there was no Plan B but a "Plan D for dialogue and democracy". ---<snip>--- © The Irish Times ------------------- rkm> In this article we learn exactly what Tony Blair meant by a "period of reflection." Taoiseach Bertie Ahern puts it plainly when he says the period should be called one of "engagement". Juncker, spelling it out even more clearly, says he needs more time to "persuade voters." Tricky Tony at least shows a bit of skill in subterfuge. Not only are these leaders expressing total disrespect for democracy, and for their supposed roles as representatives of their populations, but they are quite happy to state this publicly. I only hope that the people of Europe, having shown signs of waking up, will fight back vigorously to this elite program of European fascism. My guess is that the "period" will be used to install Diebold voting machines in those countries where voters show dangerous signs of having common sense. rkm
