The Lisbon Treaty will be rejected...

Image via Wikipedia

... if the straw poll I took is anything to go by. And I'm not claiming it is, but still - 37 votes, 68% No, 19% Yes, 14% Undecided. And I don't think too many farmers voted yet ;-)

Even more interesting though has been some of the debate the poll generated-

Michael Flanagan: "The fact this has been passed without vote throughout the rest of Europe has me leaning heavily towards a NO vote out of respect to the democracy of other nations."

Evert Bopp: "The EU government has turned into a "regulate for the sake of regulating" circus and has to be disbanded at the earliest opportunity. We are expected to vote for a 'treaty' that even the politico's that put it together can't explain properly."

James Gallagher: "I can't see this treaty as anything other than a threat on our right to self-determination. Our constitution gets eroded enough (mainly on neutrality) without handing over any more power to diminsh it."

Chris Byrne: "I will vote Yes because I don't trust Irish politicians. I believe that this will make them more accountable on a world stage."

Joe O'Brien: "IBEC are calling for a Yes vote partly because it will strengthen our hand against the French. That a couple of millionaires feel it will harm their interests doesn't cut much ice with me."

On a related Jaiku discussion Will Knott made an interesting point regarding my poll and suggested a more specific and revealing set of questions. So if you've already taken the previous poll (please do) it would be great if you could now take this one -

You can learn more about the Treaty of Lisbon on Wikipedia.

Comments

[Evert Bopp]

James,

This is a tough one as no-one really understands the complete contents of this supposed "treaty" (dicate would be a better word). The various sub-commitees and work groups that drafted paragraphs and chapters of it might understand, to some extent, the result of their own labour but I argue that no-one does or can fully understand the contents or implications of this abhoration of a document.
It's like Dr. Frankensteins monster...

[JoeG]

I agree with a comment in your main dialogue james..don't "trust the Irish politicians" to bring us up speed with many issues Europe is facing - we needed to enlarge we do need new structures in place but as Evert says this is a Frankenstein of a document and should perhaps be binned and a start over... so if its not right the vote should be a no.. mmm still must read more...