The Galway Alliance Against War will hold an organisational meeting as part of its Galway No 2 Lisbon campaign in Amnesty International’s Freedom Café, Middle Street, this Monday at 8pm.
The peace group will be campaigning for a No vote “because of the militaristic nature of the treaty” and “the affront to democracy in forcing the Irish people to vote again on the exact same treaty”.
According to GAAW spokesperson Niall Farrell, the treaty is “bristling with military clauses”. Articles 21-55, Articles 326-334, and Protocol 10 all focus on the militarisation of the EU. Included in these articles are references to the European Defence Agency, which is creating a basis for the development of common military projects in the union.
According to the EUobserver.com, the “work of the EDA is happening completely outside the view of the wider general public. The lack of public involvement in an area that is still highly controversial, undermines its legitimacy and risks further erosion of public support for the wider European project”.
The main political parties and those on the Yes side argue that it is perfectly legitimate to hold a second referendum on the treaty. However Mr Farrell has pointed out statements by Yes campaigners which appear to contradict this.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore told RTÉ in June 2008: “I think the Lisbon Treaty is dead. The Irish people have now decided in a referendum that they do not wish to have it ratified, therefore the Lisbon Treaty falls.”
In a recent Dáil debate, Fine Gael’s European spokesperson Lucinda Creighton admitted: “nothing has changed in the Lisbon Treaty and it would be dishonest to suggest otherwise.” She also said the legal guarantees “do not change the content of the treaty
