Getting a little worried

Turning away from the post-mortems in this country, let us look at what is going on in Ireland. According to the Irish Times, the government is proposing to change the constitution to ensure that future major adjustments in the EU through treaties could be voted through by parliament without a referendum.

The plan is to put a subsidiary question in the referendum on the European Constitution that would allow such a change to go through. Presumably the two questions will be counted separately, but one can never tell.

The analysis given in the article, that enumerates all the areas in which the veto will be abolished without a necessary referendum indicates that there is more than a hint of fear that the Irish will say no to the constitution. If other countries say no as well, even setting France aside, there is reasonable chance that it will have to be taken away and a different document brought back with a few changes at the edges.

If the Irish, on the other hand, agree to changing Article 46.2 of their Constitution then introducing such things as QMV on every aspect on the common foreign and security policy, a sore point in Ireland, which sees itself as a neutral country, or a European Public Prosecutor, will not have to be put to a popular vote.

Quite convenient really. But aren’t they scared little bunnies?