Lisbon by any other name is still a constitution

ONE of the world’s most famous surrealist paintings, by Belgian artist René Magritte, depicts a pipe with the words underneath: “ceci n’est pas une pipe” — this is not a pipe.

Similarly, the Lisbon treaty is more or less the same in substance as the European Constitution but has been presented to voters with the declaration: “ceci n’est pas un constitution”.

“The substance of what was agreed in 2004 has been retained. What is gone is the term ‘constitution’,” said former Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern, when the Lisbon treaty was negotiated between member states in June 2007.