Treaty signatories are falling like ninepins

IT’S all rather spooky. The signatories of the Lisbon Treaty are falling like ninepins. First to suffer was Nicolas Sarkozy, its author. After denying us a referendum on the treaty, he suffered a monumental rejection at the polls in recent local elections here in France.

His approval rating has fallen to an unprecedented low of 36%. Then, out went ex-EU president and Italian prime minister Romano Prodi, ousted by the eurosceptic Silvio Berlusconi.

Next on his bike was the hapless Bertie Ahern, seen from Brussels as ‘damaged goods’ and a danger to the yes campaign.

Back in Rome, Prodi’s party lose the mayoral election for the first time in 30 years. In Britain, more grief for Gordon Brown, the man who actually signed the treaty in secret. His Labour party had the worst local election results in 40 years. To add insult to injury, the pro-Lisbon Labour Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, was ousted by one of the most eurosceptic characters in the Conservative party, Boris Johnson, a journalist who spent five years uncovering bad practices in Brussels.

It seems we European voters have a way of getting our own back when we are ignored by our rulers. The fact is that all the good the EU has done is jeopardised by this ill-conceived, undemocratic treaty.

Paul Cadier

Hameau de St Laurent

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France