On the result of the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, Sahra Wagenknecht, Member of the European Parliament and of the executive of the party THE LEFT, declares:

The result of the referendum in Ireland on the so-called reform treaty is unambiguous proof that people are fed up with the course of the EU. It proves, moreover, that the people do not allow themselves to be cheated and are very well capable of choosing between what they want and don't want – if you let them.

If even the massive propaganda machinery of the EU in the unique country where a referendum had to take place did not succeed to persuade the Irish women and men of the apparent advantages of the reform treaty, this shows how much suspicion there is against the EU. That popular votes following the negative outcomes of the constitutional referendum in France and the Netherlands were avoided at all costs, did not serve to increase trust in the EU, neither did the fact that political decisions were postponed for the mere reason of not endangering the outcome of the referendum in Ireland.

That even the catastrophe scenarios spread in the last days did not succeed in moving the Irish towards a yes, shows that current EU policy is already experienced as being enough of a catastrophe. This is not surprising in the light of a policy of neoliberalism and of military rearmament that puts more and more people in Europe on the sides of the losers, while the profits of the big companies reach ever more vertiginous levels!

The Lisbon Treaty stands for precisely this policy. It deserved it just as the Constitutional Treaty - which the Left for good reasons rejected from the beginning - to fail against the vote of the people: Who, like the EU, pretends to be doing politics in the interests of the people and at the same time takes special care that the population is, if at all possible, not involved in decision-making, need not be surprised about the check. With today's result, the attempt to order a militarist and neoliberal treaty basis to the EU must now finally be over! There should not be a plan C for this failed project!

The outcome of the referendum in Ireland is a resounding slap for the EU and an unambiguous pronouncement for a different, better politics in the interest of the people – a politics that would then not have to fear popular votes any more.

Sahra Wagenknecht, MEP
Brussels, 13 June 2008