Monday 16 June 2008

Looking west?

Welsh politicians often look to Ireland as an example of what a small country on the western edge of Europe can do to improve the lives of its people.

Phrases such as "Celtic Tiger" are likely to be restricted to the Irish economy after last week's vote on the Lisbon Treaty.

The "no" vote in a country widely seen to have benefited from EU membership may have been decided by many factors, not all of them connected to the treaty itself.

But the popular rejection of a campaign put forward by most of the political establishment may send a warning signal or two for those keen to push ahead with a referendum to give the Welsh Assembly full law-making powers.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

that assumes that the welsh politicians were planning a referendum on full lawmaking powers in the first place, planning requires action, something our politicians are allergic too. What happened in Ireland is just the latest excuse not to do anything, as if they needed one.