The European press is freaking out because voters in Ireland rejected the Nice Treaty which would rework the European Union ahead of its planned expansion to admit Eastern European countries in a few years.
There is a vocal minority in Europe that is concerned about the often extremely anti-democratic nature of European Union institutions. Of course those in favor of the EU dismiss such talk as rubbish. You can get a flavor of what EU officials think of democracy by looking at comments made by the EU’s Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen. Verheugen was in Slovenia when he gave this quote to reporters about the Irish rejection of the treaty,
Such a referendum in one country cannot … block the biggest and most important project for the political and economic future of the united Europe.
Much of the European press echoed this view. Here’s a comment typical of this reaction from the Madrid newspaper, El Pais,
It is paradoxical that half a million votes – cast in a referendum with a close result and the lowest turnout in Irish history – could stop a treaty coming into force which affects 370m people and the hopes of millions of others who want to join the EU … the EU must agree systems for changing its rules so they cannot be paralysed by a single state. Otherwise, a European Union of 27 or more members will be ungovernable.
Wouldn’t want a little thing like a democratic election to get in the way of the EU’s plans. I can’t imagine where the EU’s critics came up with the idea that it was anti-democratic.
Sources:
Irish Republic rejects EU treaty. CNN, June 8, 2001.
Irish No stuns European press. The BBC, June 9, 2001.