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Ireland votes 'yes' to Lisbon treaty

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i cant believe the irish backtracked on this..

and there wont be a re-vote, as the rest of the EU got what they wanted, it was even easier for us.. we never got the damned vote.

bye bye Ireland

damn !!! I told my dad to vote no but he wouldn't , i went into my local community centre last night to vote but then i didnt bother..oh well.

Reply 43

Made in the USA

Shadowplay

With Obama as American president, it might very well work. But I couldn't imagine if America got a McCain or something for a president... Blair and him would probably be the best of friends and conspirators in a couple of new wars :rolleyes:

No time for Britain's best interests then.

You lost me on that one. Democrats are historically the most warmongering party in US politics...they got us into vietnam, truman dropped the bomb, etc. And Obama's foreign policy is the same as GWB's foreign policy. Aren't we on the verge of sending 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan?

Reply 44

Meagz

Could somebody explain the treaty in Layman's terms to a complete politics noob?

Reply 45

JW92

Meagz

Could somebody explain the treaty in Layman's terms to a complete politics noob?

Like the European constitution before it, the treaty is often described as an attempt to streamline EU institutions to make the enlarged bloc of 27 states function better. But opponents see it as part of a federalist agenda that threatens national sovereignty.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6901353.stm

Reply 46

beepbeeprichie

I gave up on trying to understand how the EU works a long time ago.

Reply 47

yesioo

Czechoslovakia still has to ratify it.

And Poland as well I believe? Although they've pretty much said yes anyway. :sigh:

How come we never got the vote?

Reply 48

Renner

Shadowplay

Tony Blair will never be Eu's president, everyone in Europe loaths him. But he will be a candidate, yes.

He has the support of the French, Italians and most of the former Eastern Block countries. The Germans have pledged support if they get key top positions on the new board and they don’t fancy Socialist Spanish guy getting it. Opponents are Spain, Portugal and beaux countries but to paraphrase the Times, they don’t really matter.

Reply 49

Psyk

bansheeee*

damn !!! I told my dad to vote no but he wouldn't , i went into my local community centre last night to vote but then i didnt bother..oh well.

How would you feel if it passed by one vote :p:

Reply 50

Shadowplay

Made in the USA

I know about that! But he (personally) won't be starting a NEW war in x-stan anytime soon. That's why he got elected in the first place, because he was against the war. He seems like a peaceful enough bloke, don't think he'd start a war for nothing.

Reply 51

indigoblue

Knew this was going to happen

They were going to keep holding referendums until Ireland said yes

Reply 52

beepbeeprichie

Made in the USA

Sometimes wars are justified. The Republicans always go to war when they are not. And Truman didn't start the war. Eisenhow er got the US into Vietnam.

Reply 53

indigoblue

tomheppy

Sometimes wars are justified. The Republicans always go to war when they are not. And Truman didn't start the war. Eisenhow er got the US into Vietnam.

The Democrats usually continue the wars though, which I find strange

Reply 54

Shadowplay

Renner

Maybe he has support of their presidents and prime ministers, but not of the people. Well, maybe of orthodox USA-loving countries like Poland and Czech republic, but that's about it :wink:

Nobody in Europe was in favour of war in Iraq, why do you think almost everybody hates Americans now? Everybody hates Tony Blair.

But yeah, the problem is that he isn't elected by the people. I think that the one from Luxembourg will win, whatever his name is. Well, I hope.

Reply 55

beepbeeprichie

indigoblue

The Democrats usually continue the wars though, which I find strange

They continue the wars because the Republicans got them into that mess. Anyway the Afghan government wants western military presence and we have a duty to help them, just as we have a duty to pay war reparations.

Reply 56

Renner

Shadowplay

Maybe he has support of their presidents and prime ministers, but not of the people. Well, maybe of orthodox USA-loving countries like Poland and Czech republic, but that's about it :wink:

Any ******* point in the :wink:

Just because they don’t like the Iraq war doesn’t mean they hate Tony Blair. Tony Blair is the only candidate that has international recognition and has experience of heading international bodies. He is an atlantasiset which is needed in the EU after they alienated bush.

I'm didn’t like him as a PM but he is the best candidate for the job and at least he is British. Elections for the presidency would be imposable as virtually no European politician is known throughout the union, there is something like 27+ languages spoken and people will just vote along national lines.

Reply 57

Shadowplay

Renner

Any ******* point in the :wink:

Whatever you say. :wink:

But I'm originally from a Central and Eastern European country, so I pretty much know what most of the people there are thinking or what they were saying. And I think that politicians in Brussels (who will elect the president!) are a tad bit more educated than regular Europeans and won't vote for Blair just because they "heard of" him on the news. They probably know the other candidates too.

Btw, check out this site http://stopblair.eu/ , it has more than 30 000 signatures, look at the countries of the signatures.

Reply 58

Tyrotoxism

****. this really is some minimum zansgeit.

Reply 59

TopSlacker

Excellent news.

Hopefully Poland and the Czech Republic wrap this up pretty quickly so the EU can move on. I really can't understand why if you're Eurosceptic you'd be against this treaty; it streamlines what is an overly-bureaucratic institution and gives more power to the elected MEPs. Whats not to like? Plus we're finally going to have a President of Europe rather than the fiasco we have at the moment which sees the Presidency rotating every 6 months. If we want to be taken seriously we need a face which represents the union and Tony Blair is the obvious choice.

No-one else could walk into the White House and command immediate respect, or go to China and build on previous links to push through action on Climate Change. He has the support of Britain, France and Italy. The Germans are said to be accepting of the idea. Eastern Europe is happy as he was pro their membership. That just leaves Spain/Portugal and the smaller nations. I still think he'll get the position though, no-one else's CV is anywhere near the level of Blair's.