An article on Conservative Home reports that new EU Development Commissioner Karel de Gucht has said that: “Whilst the original Constitutional Treaty was technical, and correct, people didn’t read the Lisbon Treaty, they didn’t understand the first word about it. No real debate about the Lisbon Treaty could happen. This was a deliberate decision of the European Council”.

Meanwhile, former Green Party MEP and Chairwoman of the People’s Movement Patricia McKenna is considering a legal challenge against the Referendum Commission (The Independent), claiming an information booklet on the Lisbon Treaty from the body is “evasive”, “inaccurate” and “misleading” and must be changed or withdrawn immediately. The Irish Times quotes her saying, “This document which the voters believe to be balanced and non-partisan is one of the most disturbing aspects of the campaign to date”.

The Irish Times and The Independent report that John Burke, an Irish cattleman, has told the High Court that he intends to challenge the legality of the second referendum on the Treaty on the grounds that no means no and that no written evidence of legal changes to the Treaty had been put before the electorate. He told the Court, “That vote [the first referendum] still stands and the Taoiseach has since told the electorate they have been misinformed and that they will have to vote until such time as they decide to vote the opposite”.

Even the Swedish Young Social Democrats (pro-EU party) have come out against the Lisbon Treaty, thereby going against the line of their elders. In an article on Europaportalen, the Chairwoman of the Young Social Democrats, Jytte Guteland, argues that “While the Young Social Democrats have confirmed its basic positive view of [European] cooperation, we have decided to say No to the Lisbon Treaty. The criticism was fundamentally about a Treaty which in our eyes isn’t sufficiently democratic.” She argues that in future the EU must develop treaties with more focus on democracy, human rights and transparency.

tnx to via Open Europe