French Media Report Irish Vote
France Info and France Inter, two of the main national public radio channels in France, gave a high rankimng to the Irish rerendum on the Treaty of Lisbon this morning. France Info noted that Irish voters could have Europe trembling.
A France Inter press review carried stories emphasizing the gains Ireland had scored from EU membership, citing its poverty and backwardness at the time of accession.
This theme has also been evident in the Irish Yes campaign.
The logical conclusion is that Ireland should agree to any proposal from our European partners, that any kind of genuine, spontaneous disagreement is a mark of ingratitude. The French provincial media clearly need an education on our economic performance in recent years, on the merits of our national economic strategy (when contrasted with France’s high unemployment record). These editors also ignore the concerns of French, Dutch and other EU citizens who have strong reservations about the direction of the European project.
French media have not really given a lot of attention to the backlash against threatening noises from the French foreign ministry: even the pro-Lisbon Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny, appeared alarmed at the likely consequences of that intervention.
