French socialist attacks Lisbon Treaty

Rejection of the Lisbon Treaty would be greeted with “great relief” throughout Europe, a conference in Dublin heard today.

Francois Delapierre, of the French Socialist Party, told a conference hosted by the Campaign Against the EU Constitution that the French people had been “robbed of the right to vote” on the treaty.

“It is you the Irish people who will be giving all the people of Europe a chance to get a better treaty if the result is ’No’.”

Carla Kinger, of Attac Germany - a European anti-globalisation organisation - said the people of Europe were hoping the treaty would be rejected by the Irish electorate. “We wish so much it will be a No vote though we know we cannot tell the Irish people how to vote. We wish this campaign though success.”

Siegfried Bernhauser, of Attac Austria, said there had been a number of demonstrations in Vienna by people demanding a national referendum on the treaty. “We were denied that right and only you can give it back to us.”

Brendan Ogle, official with the Unite trade union, said the treaty represented an “attack on democracy” and should be rejected.

“We are being conned into a federal Europe,” he said, adding that the treaty would pave the way for wages across all sectors to fall. He said employers would be legally entitled to bring workers from lower-paying economies into the State and pay them at rates they received at home.

Eddie Conlon, spokesman for the Campaign, said the treaty would reinforce the primacy of the market and the neo-liberal agenda and that all other concerns, including health and social services, would be subservient to the market.