-Fine Gael to lead Lisbon campaign – Kenny

June 12, 2009 by Infowars Ireland

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has said his party will lead the Yes campaign in a second Lisbon referendum to prevent anti-Government sentiment from shooting the treaty down.

He has also sharply criticised the performance of EU commissioner Charlie McCreevy, declaring that his “heart was never in Europe” and he’d have preferred to be back home.

“There may be a political problem in separating the Lisbon referendum from the government’s mismanagement of the economy… The people want an election,” said Mr Kenny today after meeting European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

Mr Kenny, who as Fine Gael leader is a vice president of the European People’s Party- the same political family as Mr Barroso, said he would meet Taoiseach Brian Cowen next Tuesday to discuss the guarantees being sought on the Lisbon treaty.

But this would also give him an opportunity to lay out Fine Gael’s plans for the next referendum campaign.

“The timing of the last referendum left a lot to be desired when you had one Taoiseach leaving and another one arriving. The Government took their eye off the ball… the campaign was not coordinated,” said Mr Kenny, who added that nothing could be taken for granted in a second referendum due to a “real cynicism about politics” out there.

“We need a proper campaign to inform the people. We need to set up a committee to properly scrutinise how the Government transposes EU directives. Red tape in Europe is interfering with people,” said Mr Kenny, who cited the example of a shopkeeper who was told to destroy 20 dozen eggs because two best before date marks had become blurred.

He said the problem often lies with how the government transposed EU legislation rather than with the directives himself. For example Ireland has introduced criminal penalties for fishermen while other member states have opted for a system of administrative penalties. Setting up a scrutiny committee to see how the implementing legislation could be amended would show to the people that politicians were listening, said Mr Kenny.

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