Brid Smith

1. We voted NO before and not a single word of the Treaty has changed. Make the political establishment RESPECT the will of the people.

2. The Irish are the only people who are allowed to vote. Let’s use it on behalf of millions of Europeans denied a vote. EU Commissioner, Charlie McCreevy admitted 95 percent of other countries would vote NO if they had a chance.

3. This referendum is NOT about membership of the EU. If we vote NO, we cannot be thrown out of the EU. So don’t be blackmailed.

4. Lisbon gives the EU more powers to control how governments manage their budgets and run their public services (Art 16 and 115). Competition and price stability are the only priorities of the European Central Bank (Art 254a) – not jobs.

5. The Lisbon Treaty copper-fastens the removal of restrictions on the movement of capital between member states and third countries. This allows speculators to move money around at will, wrecking economies and lives in the process.

6. The Lisbon Treaty allows for the privatisation of health and education by giving the EU Commission more power to do deals at the World Trade Organisation. (Art 188c)

7. Lisbon offers no protection for workers rights and offers nothing to millions of unemployed across Europe. In the Laval and Viking cases, the European Court of Justice has undermined the right of trade unionists to take effective action against contractors who import cheap labour to undercut registered agreements.

8. Spend money on welfare on warfare. The Lisbon Treaty demands increases in military spending but the is no such requirement for healthcare or education. (Art 28)

9. Stay out of EU battle groups and EU wars. The Lisbon Treaty demands we supply troops for ‘tasks of combat forces in crisis management’. It forces us to come to the aid of other countries who are subject to a terrorist attack. (Art 28)

10. Stop the building of an undemocratic EU super state. Lisbon gives the EU a “legal personality”, a president and a foreign minister and changes the voting balance in the EU in favour of larger countries like Germany and France.

The policies enshrined in Lisbon are the very politics that created this crisis. Across Europe governments are robbing people to pay for bank bail-outs. This is our chance to hit back. Use it so that they get the message that NO means NO.