A pyrrhic victory

oscarBravo

Very well-written opinion piece in yesterday's Times by Antonio Bar:

Not only were all but one of Cowen's demands already granted even before the referendum, but the remaining one - that concerning the agreement by which the European Commission will continue to include one national of each member state - far from being a victory or something to be proud of, is in fact a clear step backwards in the process of rationalisation and simplification of the EU which will dramatically affect and damage the interests of Ireland and those of the EU at large.

Basically what I and others have been saying here.

lostexpectation

sort of makes joke of the yes sides arguements doesn't it.

oscarBravo

No.

Scofflaw

lostexpectation wrote: »

sort of makes joke of the yes sides arguements doesn't it.

Not really - I'm afraid it makes more of a joke of the No side arguments. To quote John Palmer on Open Democracy:

It is a bizarre situation: one where all the governments of the European Union will legally bind themselves not to impose on Ireland measures which none of them ever had the slightest intention of doing in the first place, and for which no provision is made in the Lisbon treaty.

The willingness of much of the No side to use arguments that were based on extraordinarily fanciful interpretations of Treaty articles has meant a huge time-wasting exercise for everyone.

regretfully,
Scofflaw

oscarBravo

lostexpectation wrote: »

sort of makes joke of the yes sides arguements doesn't it.

This is the point at which, if you were actually interested in a discussion, you'd explain why you think this is the case.

studiorat

lostexpectation wrote: »

sort of makes joke of the yes sides arguements doesn't it.

Which arguments?
It would seem to me Ireland is having the same treaty especially worded for them like some sort of remedial student. Maybe that's the joke.

K-9

studiorat wrote: »

Which arguments?
It would seem to me Ireland is having the same treaty especially worded for them like some sort of remedial student. Maybe that's the joke.

Indeed, all we are getting is clarification on issues we said would not be affected, but the No side had concerns over.

Causing great offence though, these clarifications!