Inevitability Mr Anderson
So, the Irish people have had the good sense to vote against the Lisbon Treaty. Hurrah! Or at least it would be if their say actually mattered - which quite clearly it won’t.
Even before the final result was announced, numerous European politicians including José Manuel Barroso had made plain that the Lisbon Treaty was not dead and that ratification in all member states must continue.
Thus the Irish will discover in time that within the European Union there is no such thing as real choice. Either you subjugate yourself to the will of the Brussels bureaucracy or leave – and since all political parties in Ireland are in favour of remaining within the Union, in much the same way they were all in favour of the EU Constitution, then it is almost guaranteed that the Lisbon Treaty will be forced upon the Irish people eventually.
Some people still talk of creating a looser European Union of independent trading nations. They fail to realise that if the EU and its politicians are prepared to ignore the will of the French, Dutch and Irish voters in very specific referendums, then it is entirely unlikely they will suddenly feel the need to allow members to simply trade freely without any political baggage.
The EU is irreversibly set on the course of ever closer political union. Its elites will not listen to the people, whom they secretly despite for democratically voicing their doubts, and will plough on regardless – even in the face of popular adversity. How does anyone continue to believe that is democratic or favourable?
