wirbel wrote:at least Chirac is letting his people vote; other countries don't ask their citizens anything; i would've liked a referendum for a lot of other things...
good point indeed.
but i still think there should be a constitution for europe and a more democratic european government.
wirbel wrote:at least Chirac is letting his people vote; other countries don't ask their citizens anything; i would've liked a referendum for a lot of other things... but i still think there should be a constitution for europe and a more democratic european government.
Fair enough.
But how do you make sure people's opinion is not manipulated by some politicians, making sure to scare them, and thus not discussing the referendum in itself but other things?
wirbel wrote:at least Chirac is letting his people vote; other countries don't ask their citizens anything; i would've liked a referendum for a lot of other things...
good point indeed.
but i still think there should be a constitution for europe and a more democratic european government.
I do too. but not this one.
Which one then? I have not read the thing, but have been told by people who have read it that they did not understand anything. And I am quite convinced that most people who voted have not read it or understand much of what they read.
I did read the whole thing - the Dutch government made newspapers containing all articles of the constitution - and it was a tough job although I work with the law a lot in daily life.
The Netherlands have voted against the constitution with a smashing 62%. I mainly think that this has to do with the current situation in Europe. The Netherlands are paying the highest contribution of all countries of the EU but now have to give up all these rights in voting. Beside all that: the European constitution is a step backwards in many ways. In The Netherlands the gay marriage and the right to die (euthanasia, if this is the correct word in English) are part of the constitution. Animal rights are part of our constitution. All of that is missing in the European constitution.
Spain and Hungary refused the animal rights (as for their traditions of Bullfighting and chickenfights). Italy refused the gay marriage.
I guess all these countries are not similar enough to share 1 constitution.
picsou wrote:
Which one then? I have not read the thing, but have been told by people who have read it that they did not understand anything. And I am quite convinced that most people who voted have not read it or understand much of what they read.
If you tried to read it, but couldn't understand it, that's a damn good reason to vote "no"!
