eurealist.co.uk

We are told that we cannot have a vote on the Lisbon Treaty because it is just another treaty that has not constitutional effects the Hose of Lords has already issued a report to that effect, it is unfortunate therefore that House of Lords will not be the final arbiter of the effects of the Treaty but the ECJ and the Lords statement conflicts with the messages from the ECJ.

The government’s stance can also be challenged on a different point, one that nobody seem to recognise; if there are no constitutional affects of the Treaty then why on earth are the Irish holding a referendum? The ECJ has already made it clear that British our opt-outs are not a solid defence; they can and probably will come under direct challenge as soon as the EU starts to work in the new areas of competence.
Of course the other argument against us being allowed a referendum is that we would not just vote on the contents of the treaty.
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One of the problems for the EU in its push for direct power over the people, is that EU rules introduced under the banner of removing trading restrictions those prohibiting discrimination between nationals. Only applied to those few people who actually went to work in another member state, the rules did not reach down to the mass of people who did not, hence something was needed to further the interests of the EU.

EU Citizenship was first formally introduced in 1992 in the Maastricht Treaty but because of further developments in the extent of EU citizenship the states feared EU citizenship would undermine their basic sovereignty, so the clause was changed in the Treaty of Amsterdam
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