Editor’s note: In June 2008 the people of the Republic of Ireland voted to turn down the Lisbon Treaty which would have further consolidated the powers of the European Union and monopoly capital, at the expense of smaller nations and working people. Presumably, because such a treaty requires unanimity of EU member states the Irish vote sealed the doom of the Lisbon Treaty?  Not at all. In complete defiance of democracy, the European Union and reactionary forces in Ireland are staging a “do over,” hoping to get an outcome more to their liking. Naturally, US transnational companies based in Ireland are complicit.

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Intel Corporation’s Support for Lisbon Treaty. The Mask is Beginning to Slip 

“The Communist Party of Ireland asks workers to take note of the forces now gathering to push for a Yes vote on the Lisbon Treaty.

“Intel Corporation and previously the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland — the mouthpiece of American corporations in Ireland — have called for a Yes vote. These are the same people who actively block workers from joining a trade union, who refuse their workers the right to be represented by a trade union of their democratic choice.

“Intel’s announcement that it may spend up to €200,000 in promoting a Yes vote should send a clear message to all workers that big corporations, those that deny workers the right to join a trade union, are the driving force behind the Lisbon Treaty, both here in Ireland and throughout the European Union.

“Based on the provisions of previous treaties, institutions such as the EU Court of Justice have already delivered rulings in the Laval, Rüffert and Luxembourg cases against workers’ rights, making them subservient to the rights of corporate Europe.”

The Communist Party of Ireland went on to state that “the Charter of Fundamental Rights would not give workers any additional rights; workers’ rights are in fact conditional on what the “market” requires. This is the real reason that US corporations and big business support the Lisbon Treaty. It copperfastens this central approach at the very heart of ever deeper EU integration.”

Communist Party of Ireland