It is reported today that the first Lisbon referendum cost €23 million and the second will cost over €20 m. People Before Profit Alliance Councillor

1. We voted NO before and not a single word of the Treaty has changed. Make the political establishment RESPECT the will of the people.

2. The Irish are the only people who are allowed to vote. Let’s use it on behalf of millions of Europeans denied a vote. EU Commissioner, Charlie McCreevy admitted 95 percent of other countries would vote NO if they had a chance.

3. This referendum is NOT about membership of the EU. If we vote NO, we cannot be thrown out of the EU. So don’t be blackmailed.

4. Lisbon gives the EU more powers to control how governments manage their budgets and run their public services (Art 16 and 115). Competition and price stability are the only priorities of the European Central Bank (Art 254a) – not jobs.

5. The Lisbon Treaty copper-fastens the removal of restrictions on the movement of capital between member states and third countries. This allows speculators to move money around at will, wrecking economies and lives in the process.

6. The Lisbon Treaty allows for the privatisation of health and education by giving the EU Commission more power to do deals at the World Trade Organisation. (Art 188c)

7. Lisbon offers no protection for workers rights and offers nothing to millions of unemployed across Europe. In the Laval and Viking cases, the European Court of Justice has undermined the right of trade unionists to take effective action against contractors who import cheap labour to undercut registered agreements.

 Click on above images to watch videos   Read our:  Ten Reasons to vote NO   Vote No to Lisbon Treaty II tomorrow! For Europe

Councillor Richard Boyd Barrett said “Nothing in this Treaty has changed since the last referendum. Those who voted NO last time should do so again.
We all know that his treaty does not contain one job. The only jobs at stake are those of an incompetent and inhumane government which has inflicted misery on ordinary people because of their failed economic policies.

The privatisation of health services and cuts that the Lisbon Treaty facilitates will directly affect women. An example of this is what is happening now with cervical smear testing. In 2008, the HSE awarded US company Quest Diagnostics a contract to analyse smear tests – a company that had to pay out $40 million in fraud settlements over the past 10 years and $302 million over faulty test devices.

There are consequences for women from this outsourcing. When smear tests are analysed abroad indigenous laboratory expertise is lost and, worse for the women concerned, their medical records are not readily accessible – or perhaps not accessible at all.

If Lisbon is passed on Friday, we’ll get more of the same because Article 207 of the treaty removes the veto governments now have on the EU’s international proposals to liberalise health, education and social services. Keeping the power to veto proposals could help us tthat would let even more multinationals make profits from essential services.

In addition, Article 136 strengthens the EU’s powers to set policy for member states who don’t adhere to the Stability and Growth Pact – the reason for the cuts proposed by Colm McCarthy. This means more pressure to cut public spending. This resulting cuts in services will directly affect women who are primarily responsible for childcare and care of the elderly.

Yes side should engage in a serious debate on the Treaty
EU Policies mean pain for Irish workers

At a public meeting in Crumlin tonight local People Before Profit Councillor, Joan Collins, said that an unholy alliance of big business, politicians, trade union leaders and the Labour Party were attempting to scare the public into accepting the Lisbon Treaty.

“Yesterday we had Brian Lenihan, Michael O Leary, David Begg and Eamonn Gilmore all threatening us with job losses and economic doom if we vote no. This is despite the fact that there is nothing in the Treaty that will create jobs. Indeed the Referendum Commission has that the treaty “contains no provisions” on jobs levels.

It is absolutely shameful that the leaders of the trade union movement and the Labour Party should be joining in this chorus of threats rather than engaging in a real debate about the treaty.

We say that the policies of the EU and the Irish government have got us into the recession and the policies of the EU will not get us out of it. Indeed they will lead to further pain for ordinary taxpayers.

On Tuesday September 29, the People Before Profit Alliance will hold a street meeting and canvass starting at 12 noon at the bottom of Grafton