[ILUG] Eek! McCreevy wants to legalise Software Patents via a US-EU patent treaty

[Colm Buckley]

On Tue, May 20, 2008 at 1:11 PM, Braun Brelin <bbrelin at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> The problem here is that politicians don't get the "please fix issues" part of this.  They simply
> re-ask the same question over and over again until the voters finally get worn down and give in.
>
>

But, uh, that's not what happened with Nice.  The Seville Declaration was
added to the treaty's protocols, and the constitutional amendment offered to
the Irish voters explicitly added the section which enshrined our opt-out on
the common defence policy.  It wasn't the same question as was asked the
first time.

The first time around, the proposed constitutional amendment was:

        Insertion of new Article 29.4.7:  The State may ratify the Treaty of
Nice
        amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the
        European Communities and certain related Acts signed at Nice on the
        26th day of February, 2001.

        Insertion of new Article 29.4.8:  The State may exercise the options
        or discretions provided by or under Articles 1.6, 1.9, 1.11, 1.12,
1.13
        and 2.1 of the Treaty referred to in subsection 7 of this section
but
        any such exercise shall be subject to the prior approval of both
        Houses of the Oireachtas.

The proposal for the second vote added the following further amendment:

        Insertion of new Article 29.4.9:  The State shall not adopt a
decision
        taken by the European Council to establish a common defence
        pursuant to Article 1.2 of the Treaty referred to in subsection 7
        of this section where that common defence would include the State.

This addressed the most significant concern of voters on the first proposed
amendment; that the treaty (specifically the sections relating to common
defence) would compromise Irish neutrality.  It was not the "same question",
it was an honest attempt to interpret the will of the voters and resolve the
impasse.  And the overwhelming passage of the second amendment (62%-37%)
indicates that this was definitely the right thing to do.

Colm

-- 
Colm Buckley / colm at tuatha.org / +353 87 2469146