Victory for democracy and football
What a great day it was yesterday for small European countries. First, the Irish gave the EU and its pseudo-democratic institutions an almighty kick in the shins and then The Netherlands hammered France in their Euro2008 game. After the match, the television screen was filled with images of Dutch players taking their beautiful babies from their wives' arms and parading them around the field with enviable pride. This was a vision of Europe.
The sheer brilliance of the Dutch could not cheer up the European elites, however, because they now know that following the resounding Irish "No" they need to come up with some new thinking to support the legitimacy of the European Union. Unless they do, it will stagnate and wither away. For the thing is that while Europeans understand and love football, they do not understand or love the EU and their belief in the ability of the political and media elites to explain what it is about has sunk dramatically. The argument that Brussels represents our best interests was greeted with scorn in Ireland. All that the "No" campaign had to do was point out that the EU is so anti-democratic that it won't allow voters to decide on the Lisbon Treaty anywhere except in Ireland where the Irish constitution forces them to.
"We want a Europe that is more democratic, and that if there is to be a president and a foreign affairs minister, they should be elected," Declan Ganley, a businessman who formed the group Libertas to campaign against the Lisbon Treaty, said. Exactly.
