EU Interferes in Irish Vote as Czechs Start New Effort to Halt Lisbon Treaty
The European Union has spent £139,000 of taxpayers’ money interfering in the upcoming Lisbon Treaty vote in Ireland as leading senators in the Czech Republic have launched yet another attempt to halt the ratification process.
In what clearly is an unlawful interference in the Irish referendum, the European Commission paid for a 16-page ‘Guide to the Lisbon Treaty’ newspaper insert.
The EU propaganda, which comprised 1.1 million copies, was distributed at a cost to the taxpayer of £139,000. The booklet explicitly promotes the EU and maps out what it claims are the alleged benefits to Ireland of the Lisbon Treaty.
According to a leak from within the legal services of the EC and the Council of the EU, serious reservations were expressed over the legality of the booklet.
Patricia McKenna, a former Green Party member of the European Parliament and a leader of People’s Movement, a pressure group that opposes the treaty, criticised the latest intervention by Brussels.
“The EU Commission, with the massive funds and resources available to it, courtesy of the taxpayer, can just throw money at influencing Irish opinion prior to the vote. We have to campaign on a shoestring.”
Mrs McKenna won a landmark legal challenge in the Irish Supreme Court 14 years ago to prevent the “unconstitutional use of taxpayers’ money for propaganda purposes in referendum campaigns.”
“This is an unlawful use of European taxpayers’ money, since the EC has no competence whatever in the ratification of treaties,” she said. “It is gross interference.”
Meanwhile, a group of Czech senators today filed the second constitutional challenge against the EU reform treaty, posing another hurdle to its ratification.
Senator Jiri Oberfalzer said that he lodged the petition with the Brno-based Constitutional Court, requesting it to review several sections of the Lisbon Treaty.
The move will further delay a signature by President Vaclav Klaus, which is the last step required for the Czech Republic’s ratification of the treaty since parliament approved it in May.
President Klaus has also expressed his opposition to the Lisbon Treaty.
