Key Debate: The Lisbon Treaty
Interview with Íñigo Méndez de Vigo MEP (Spain)
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Why does the EU need the Lisbon Reform Treaty? The EU built a house 50 years ago and we've been living in this house for the last five decades. This house was conceived for 6 families. Now we are twenty-seven. |
| And a lot of things have changed since then. For example, very few people travelled in an airplane - nobody talked about globalisation. Because of these changes, we had to rebuild the house, This is what then Reform Treaty is about, rebuilding the house - not discarding it - keeping the fundamental principles or foundations of this house, but refurbishing it. The Lisbon Treaty gives us the tools and the possibilities to be active, to be more democratic, to be more efficient, in the years ahead. |
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What are the most common untruths about the Treaty from the No campaign? What myths do you want to dispel? Those who are against the Treaty are people who are against it for so many reasons that they're only able to destroy, not to build. They disagree so much amongst themselves, ranging from the extreme right to the extreme left, that they are not even able to have a coffee together! So we, who are in favour of the Treaty - we may not agree on everything, but we do think that on the whole, in terms of efficiency, in terms of democracy, it is much better than the existing treaties. There are so many rubbish things that are said about the Treaty but maybe the most stupid is the idea that we are trying to create a centralised superstate, according to the europhobes. I've never known anyone who wants to create a huge supersized superstate. Take me for example, I am Spanish. My country has been a nation for 500 years, do you really belive I want to dissolve my country in a European superstate? This is nonsense. |
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What about the importance of communication? To what extent was the failure of the Consitutional Treaty a failure to communicate because the message just simply did not get through?
As well as an opposition campaign from those against Europe, there was also a mistake made by those who were in favour. Perhaps we could not properly explain what were the advantages of the Treaty, and I think we failed on getting across a very simple idea. Some of us, at least myself, we thought that the Treaty was a kind of refoundation party, after the enlargement and for the enlargement. We thought that after 50 years, as I said before, we were reshaping the new house, but also reuniting Europe. Well, the message did not pass, because instead of seeing the advantages of the reunification of Europe, some people saw disadvantages, therefore I think we have to make an effort to explain why in terms of politics, why in terms of policies, why in terms of cultural advantages, the enlargements, the reunification of Europe, is in fact a wonderful idea. There's a chance, an opportunity, to have these advantages come to full fruition, and this Lisbon Treaty gives us the tools to do this. |
