European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek has flown to Dublin to tell the Irish people to beware of 'outside' influences telling them how to vote in next month's Lisbon Treaty referendum. He described the Lisbon No campaign as “made up of marginal groups…and some [located] outside your country”.
He then went on to say that he had no wish to “tell people how to vote”, before telling people how to vote by suggesting that the referendum should not be “used for domestic messages” to bash the Irish government.
We've talked about the various EU institutions' penchant for meddling in the Irish referendum many times before but these remarks are a fine illustration of how seemingly intelligent people manage to lose all sense of reason and self-awareness.
2 comments:
Hello from Sweden. Just say NO to outside influences.
These interventions by members of the EU institutions are unlawful, lacking any legal basis in the treaties to justify the use of EU resources.
Firstly, the EU has no competence regarding the ratification of new treaties between its member states. Even the deposit of instruments of ratification is with the Italian government, not with any EU institution.
Secondly, Article 5 TEU states:
"The European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors shall exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of this Treaty."
while Article 5 TEC states:
"The Community shall act within the limits of the powers conferred upon it by this Treaty and of the objectives assigned to it therein."
and
"Any action by the Community shall not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objectives of this Treaty."
This must apply to all members of all the EU institutions acting as such and employing EU resources, including the President of the European Parliament or any other MEP visiting Ireland at EU expense to intervene in the referendum, and especially to members of the Commission and their staff.
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