eurealist.co.uk

Now that the French have voted against the Constitution the leaders are becoming concerned about a domino affect on other countries referendums. In Ireland the Wexford politician Avril Doyle warned “The domino effect from a major country like France saying no would impact on other countries,” and In Holland Jan Peter Balkenende issued an urgent appeal for voters not to be “influenced by the French” and to make up their own minds “Each country has its own responsibility. That means that Dutch voters have to weigh it up for themselves.” Bernard Bot the Dutch foreign minister weighed in to support Balkenende’ s eleventh hour appeal “It’s up to the French what they decide but we Dutch must make up our own minds, just as we have always done and will continue to do,”

Now call me cynical, but was it not just a few days ago when the German upper house passed the constitution it was hailed as a great step forward for Europe, and something the French should take note of when they went to the polls last Sunday, in fact it could well be argued that the Germany parliament made sure that they passed the constitution in time to affect the vote in France. Funny how when the boot is on the other foot they suddenly decide to ask their voter to ignore other votes when they have spent so much time trying to affect the votes by using their own domino affect.

I would not like anyone to think that I do not agree with Balkenende or Bot on this matter, I have always said that it is an internal matter for each country to decide for themselves, a decision that should not be influenced by other countries results or the EU institutions interference. It is good to know that they are at last coming round to my way of thinking.