Algumas afirmações sobre o novo tratado

The difference between the original Constitution and the present Lisbon Treaty is one of approach, rather than content [...] The proposals in the original constitutional treaty are practically unchanged. They have simply been dispersed through the old treaties in the form of amendments. Why this subtle change? Above all, to head off any threat of referenda by avoiding any form of constitutional vocabulary [...] But lift the lid and look in the toolbox: all the same innovative and effective tools are there, just as they were carefully crafted by the European Convention.

Valery Giscard D'Estaing, former French President and Chairman of the Convention which drew up the EU Constitution, The Independent, London, 30 October 2007

"I think it's a bit upsetting [...] to see so many countries running away from giving their people an opportunity", Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern said on Sunday 21 October, according to the Irish Independent. 'If you believe in something [...] why not let your people have a say in it. I think the Irish people should take the opportunity to show the rest of Europe that they believe in the cause, and perhaps others shouldn't be so afraid of it,' he added."

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, EU Observer, Brussels, 22 October 2007

They decided that the document should be unreadable. If it is unreadable, it is not constitutional, that was the sort of perception. Where they got this perception from is a mystery to me. In order to make our citizens happy, to produce a document that they will never understand! But, there is some truth [in it]. Because if this is the kind of document that the IGC will produce, any Prime Minister – imagine the UK Prime Minister – can go to the Commons and say “Look, you see, it's absolutely unreadable, it's the typical Brussels treaty, nothing new, no need for a referendum.” Should you succeed in understanding it at first sight there might be some reason for a referendum, because it would mean that there is something new.

Giuliano Amato, former Italian Prime Minister and Vice-Chairman of the Convention which drew up the EU Constitution, recorded by Open Europe, The Centre for European Reform, London, 12 July 2007

Public opinion will be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals that we dare not present to them directly [...] All the earlier proposals will be in the new text, but will be hidden and disguised in some way.

Valery Giscard D'Estaing, Le Monde, 14 June 2007, and Sunday Telegraph, 1 July 2007

The most striking change [between the EU Constitution in its older and newer version] is perhaps that in order to enable some governments to reassure their electorates that the changes will have no constitutional implications, the idea of a new and simpler treaty containing all the provisions governing the Union has now been dropped in favour of a huge series of individual amendments to two existing treaties. Virtual incomprehensibilty has thus replaced simplicity as the key approach to EU reform. As for the changes now proposed to be made to the constitutional treaty, most are presentational changes that have no practical effect. They have simply been designed to enable certain heads of government to sell to their people the idea of ratification by parliamentary action rather than by referendum.

Dr Garret FitzGerald, former Irish Taoiseach, Irish Times, 30 June 2007

The substance of the constitution is preserved.That is a fact.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, speech in the European Parliament, 27 June 2007

The good thing is that all the symbolic elements are gone, and that which really matters – the core – is left.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Danish Prime Minister, Jyllands-Posten, 25 June 2007

The substance of what was agreed in 2004 has been retained. What is gone is the term “constitution.”

Dermot Ahern, Irish Foreign Minister, Daily Mail Ireland, 25 June 2007

90 per cent of it is still there [...] These changes haven't made any dramatic change to the substance of what was agreed back in 2004.

Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Irish Independent, 24 June 2007

The aim of the Constitutional Treaty was to be more readable; the aim of this treaty is to be unreadable [...] The Constitution aimed to be clear, whereas this treaty had to be unclear. It is a success.

Karel De Gucht, Belgian Foreign Minister, Flanders Info, 23 June 2007

The good thing about not calling it a Constitution is that no one can ask for a referendum on it.

Giuliano Amato, speech at London School of Econmics, 21 February 2007

Referendums make the process of approval of European treaties much more complicated and less predictable [...] I was in favour of a referendum as a prime minister, but it does make our lives with 27 member states in the EU much more difficult. If a referendum had to be held on the creation of the European Community or the introduction of the euro, do you think these would have passed?

Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Irish Times, 8 Feb.2007; quoting remarks in Het Financieele Dagblad and De Volkskrant, Holland; also quoted in EUobserver, 6 February 2007