There might just have been an argument to support the Lisbon Treaty (LT) in the 2008 Irish referendum, although I do not see it myself, but it is impossible to make a valid case to vote in favor of the LT in the forthcoming October 2009 referendum, as this second referendum in itself is a massive betrayal of the democratic will of the Irish people. At the 2008 referendum, which took place a year a...

Brownian New Labour is gagging. Gagging on its own vomit, gagging on its financial and economic incompetence, gagging for the Lisbon Treaty to be in place before our general election. And the Lisbon Treaty is Brown's saviour in his 'vision' of post-democratic progressive governance. Brown has presided over the evisceration of any parliamentary discussion and potential opposition to the Lisbon Trea...

The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Swedish Parliament (Sveriges Riksdag) has cleared the EU Treaty of Lisbon for ratification by the plenary session planned for 20 November 2008. According to the press release, Utrikesutskottet säger ja till Lissabonfördraget (13 November 2008), five of the seven political parties represented favour ratification. The Lisbon Treaty does not require a...

If deliberation is part of democracy, the Åland Parliament belongs to a European regional master class. Thirteen months have passed since the signing of the Treaty of Lisbon, nine months since the President of Finland Tarja Halonen formally proposed approval of the amending treaty to the regional parliament. The Finnish Parliament approved the Lisbon Treaty in June 2008, and the ratification...

Pjotr Maciej Kaczýnski, Sebastian Kurpas and Peadar ó Broin have analysed the state of play in four EU member states, where the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon is on hold. ‘Ratification of the Lisbon Treaty ─ Ireland is not the only problem’ (EPIN Working Paper No. 18, published 24 September 2008; 16 pages) is available for downloading at: The issues and the coalit...

The constitutional court has adjourned a hearing on whether the Lisbon treaty violates the constitution until November 3, meaning that this week's European Union summit will have to take place with the treaty still unratified by the Czech Republic

At a CDU campaign meeting in Berlin for the June European elections, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that, “We refuse to stretch out our hand to those who oppose the Lisbon Treaty…that allows the entry of new members [in the EU], but who at the same time talk about enlargement.

This blog is not the only one to wonder at the lack of information about preparatory work concerning the ratification and implementation of the European Union’s Treaty of Lisbon. On 25 February 2009 the EU Committee of the Finnish Government discussed a memorandum on the state of play since the December 2008 European Council (Lissabonin sopimus ─ Eteneminen joulukuun 2008 Eurooppa-neuvosto...

Via Faustie's Blog, here is a video from the Politics Show about what the Tories plan to do with their referendum on the Lisbon Treaty if the Treaty is ratified, as looks likely, by the time that the Conservatives get into government. The upshot is, basically, "bugger all". The point is this: the Lisbon Treaty has already been ratified by our government, and the Lisbon Treaty supercedes all other ...

The European Scrutiny Committee has effectively backed 88% of the British people who wanted a say on the Lisbon Treaty and who have questioned, on grounds of democracy and law, how the Lisbon Treaty could ever have been enforced in...