International

Tomorrow and Thursday will see the debate over the proposal from the SP and other parliamentary groups for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty – the successor to the European Constitution rejected three years ago by Dutch and French voters.

Interview with Harry van Bommel by Ece Atikcan, Ph.D. Candidate at the McGill University,

SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel spent the weekend of 4th-6th April in Ireland, where he travelled to lend his support to the campaign for a 'No' vote in the forthcoming referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Ireland's referendum, which will now almost certainly be the only one held on the treaty in the whole of the European Union, will take place in the second week of June.

Today the European Parliament voted in favour of the new and renamed European Constitution, which the Dutch government says must not be called a “European Constitution” at all, but a “reform treaty”. The SP in the European Parliament joined colleagues from the United European Left (GUE-NGL) group in voting against, of course. As SP Euro-MP Erik Meijer explained, “The difference between this and the Constitutional Treaty roundly rejected by the Dutch people in 2005 is negligible. Our objections to it therefore remain for the most part unchanged.” The SP also participated in a demonstrated before the vote was taken, calling for a new referendum to be held by every member state.

“Now that there is a definitive text for the new EU Treaty, the question becomes one of whether we try to further the European project with the people, or whether we proceed without them," says SP European affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel. “A clear majority of Europeans want referendums to be held," he added. "If this doesn't happen, the EU will distance itself still further from the people it claims to serve. It will remain a project of politicians and bureaucrats and Euroscepticism will become ever more widespread."