tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1803613707305752483.post7642657536003139587..comments2024-01-08T01:50:42.568+00:00Comments on BrugesGroupBlog: They never learnHelenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13799545178433498944noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1803613707305752483.post-16436758461100986272008-10-25T19:12:00.000+01:002008-10-25T19:12:00.000+01:00You can't have it both ways:"They decided that the...You can't have it both ways:<BR/><BR/><BR/>"They decided that the document [Lisbon Treaty] should be unreadable. If it is unreadable, it is not constitutional, that was the sort of perception. Where they got this perception from is a mystery to me. In order to make our citizens happy, to produce a document that they will never understand! But, there is some truth [in it]. Because if this is the kind of document that the IGC will produce, any Prime Minister - imagine the UK Prime Minister - can go to the Commons and say 'Look, you see, it's absolutely unreadable, it's the typical Brussels treaty, nothing new, no need for a referendum.' Should you succeed in understanding it at first sight there might be some reason for a referendum, because it would mean that there is something new."<BR/><BR/>- Giuliano Amato, Vice-Chairman of the Convention which drew up the EU Constitution, London, 12 July 2007<BR/><BR/><BR/>"We cannot treat the Irish 'no' as merely a national issue or only a Treaty ratification problem. The difficulties encountered in explaining to citizens the rationale of the Lisbon Treaty and in clarifying that the EU needs to be equipped for today's and tomorrow's challenges are difficulties which we encounter across the Union."<BR/><BR/>- Internal memorandum written by Margot Wallstrom, Communications Commissar, Brussels, October 2008Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com