10 Reasons to Vote Yes

In no particular order:

1. Better Protection for Our Rights
Rather than replacing the Irish Constitution, the Charter of Fundamental Rights will protect our rights at a European level. The codification of fundamental rights at a European level will provide better protection than the current rather nebulous system of unwritten fundamental principles of EU law. It will also will be easier to explain, and more immediate, to the citizen.

2. More Consultation with National Parliaments
Lisbon will improve the consultation process between the EU’s institutions and national parliaments. A wider range of draft legislation will be forwarded to national parliaments for their scrutiny. They will also be sent a copy of the (legislative) agenda of the Council of Ministers and a copy of the resulting minutes afterwards. National parliaments will be notified of any proposals to amend the treaties and any applications to join the EU.

3. A More Transparent Council of Ministers
You rarely read criticism of the European Union without reading somewhere that the Council of Ministers legislate in secret. If Lisbon passes they will be obliged to meet in public when legislating.

4. A More Co-ordinated Foreign Policy
Most if not all of the people who complain that Lisbon will introduce a EU Foreign Minister, probably couldn’t name either of the EU’s two current foreign policy chiefs: Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Javier Solana. Rather than causing us to lose the ability to decide upon our own foreign policy, the new “High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs” will have, and have no more than, the powers of these two offices. But he or she will gain a higher profile and allow for more consistency and co-ordination of EU foreign policy.

5. A More Powerful European Parliament
The European Parliament will gain sweeping new powers to over see the adoption of legislation, including the ability to veto legislation. EU legislation will never have been more open to scrutiny.

6. More oversight and scrutiny in Justice and Home Affairs
Currently most the EU powers in justice and home affairs outside the scrutiny of the European Parliament and of the European Court of Justice. In Lisbon the European Parliament will gain co-equal legislating powers with the Council of Ministers and the European Court of Justice will be able to strike down EU laws which conflict with the Charter of fundamental.

Ireland has a flexible opt-out in this area, but opts-in to most laws in practice. The greater transparency of the legislative process in this area will also shed some light on the decisions behind choosing whether to opt-in or opt-out of proposed laws.

7. To keep open the possibility of Further Reform
For many people the problem with the Lisbon Treaty is that is doesn’t go far enough. It is not uncommon to hear calls for an elected Commission and the right of legislative initiative for the European Parliament. Lisbon doesn’t provide for either of these, but be aware. A no vote will make any further reform of how the EU operates, however minor or insignificant, impossible.

8. A Social Europe
A common theme of many left-wing opponents of the treaty is that the EU is all about neo-liberalism and free-market economics. They clearly haven’t read the Charter of Fundamental Rights. If Lisbon is ratified the EU’s current rules on freedom on movement of services will have to be balanced against the Charter’s rights to work, fair working conditions, collective bargaining, strike and against unfair dismissals.

9. A Simpler Union
Yes the Lisbon Treaty is difficult to read and makes a serious of complicated amendments to the current treaties which govern the EU. But the end product will be a EU with a more straightforward structure and a more readable set of treaties. We will never again have to go through the tortuous process of explaining the ‘pillar system’ and how the European (Economic) Community still exists as a pillar of the EU.

In the post-Lisbon EU, the most important articles of the treaties, such as those on the aims and objectives of the EU and on the institutions, will be contained in the Treaty on European Union. While the articles detailing how those aim and objectives are to be carried out will be contained in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

10. A More Efficient Union
It is understandable that people to argue that the treaties seem to work fine the way they are. But you only have to look to Poland’s vetoing of the — entirely symbolic — European Day against the death penalty*, to see how much trouble the EU can get into a the moment for the possibility of any the the current twenty-seven member states vetoing proposals. Unfortunately we will only find out how inefficient the EU could become if Lisbon is rejected.

(* this example is given for illustrative purposes only. I have no idea if the voting procedure used would be changed by Lisbon.)