Active rebuttal of Lisbon misinformation urged

IN THE wake of the Irish vote on the Lisbon Treaty, the European Commission's vice-president has called for a more vigorous engagement by the commission in responding to "misinformation" about the treaty and the EU.

Sweden's commissioner Margot Wallström, in an internal letter to fellow commissioners on the lessons to be drawn from the Irish vote for EU communications policy, calls for the setting up of a "rebuttal function" within the EU executive to counter the type of misinformation she argues was spread by anti-EU forces during the referendum campaign.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/1010/breaking3.htm

Tempers flare at first Lisbon 'think-in'

THE NEW Oireachtas sub- committee on Lisbon was set up in a bid to reconcile the 'Yes' and 'No' sides following the fallout from the referendum.

But instead it began with yet another row as it attempted to get down to business yesterday.

The cross-party committee is due to meet 24 times over the next eight weeks in a frantic effort to establish 'Ireland's future in Europe' before Taoiseach Brian Cowen travels to Brussels for a crucial EU summit in December. At its opening session yesterday, Senator Pascal Donohoe pleaded with members to "look to the future" and not "bore" people with the same old arguments about the treaty.

But he was then attacked by the sole Sinn Fein member, Senator Pearse Doherty, who complained that the committee could be used to make the case for a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/tempers-flare-at-first-lisbon-thinkin-1493157.html

Referendum Commission misjudges treaty clarification

THE independent body tasked with explaining the Lisbon treaty to voters endured an embarrassing moment yesterday when it was unable to explain a key section of the document.

The Referendum Commission held a press conference to “clarify” five key issues that had arisen during the campaign. In a press release it handed out, the commission explained that Ireland’s right to veto EU proposals would be removed in a certain number of areas if the treaty was passed. These included: “Arrangements for the control of implementing powers.”

Asked by a journalist what this meant, commission chairman High Court judge Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill appeared flummoxed. “As your question necessarily points up or implies, it’s quite difficult to be precise about what that means. There certainly isn’t a precision about it whereby one could say it applies to A, B, C or D.”

There then followed a lengthy silence, as journalists waited for the judge to expand further. When he did not, he was asked if he could clarify what areas of power were involved, to which he replied: “No, we’ll consider that and we’ll return to that later.”

http://www.irishexaminer.com/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=ireland-qqqm=ireland-qqqa=ireland-qqqid=64322-qqqx=1.asp