Green EU debate is very democratic

[Brocolli]

There has been much comment about the Green Party being anti democratic in relation to the upcoming debate on the Lisbon Treaty at which the Party will take a position.

I would argue that the opposite is the case.

This is the first time a full party conference has been held to decide such a position.

ie. This is more democratic than ever before.

[fergalr]

I suppose.. sort of redundant though. I expect government parties to support government measures.

[rockofcashel]

There has been much comment about the Green Party being anti democratic in relation to the upcoming debate on the Lisbon Treaty at which the Party will take a position.

I would argue that the opposite is the case.

This is the first time a full party conference has been held to decide such a position.

ie. This is more democratic than ever before.

utter rubbish Broccoli..

FF are the party of Government, it can hardly not support the Treaty that the Government signed

FG are an avowedly pro-EU party. They made it clear from the outset, that they would be supporting the Treaty

SF's Ard Fheis is in March, and any member can put down a motion regarding party policy in relation to the Treaty and the party position regarding same. The party has also campaigned consistently against dilution of national sovereignty via EU enhancement.

The PD's .. well should I bother ?

The Socialists.. not even going to get into an argument with their posters

The Greens .. consistently campaigned against EU referenda on the basis of diminution of sovereighty, most especially by John Gormally, have a membership which is extremely Euro-sceptic (on past referenda campaigns)

but.. now that the Greens are in Government, the Ministers have performed a U turn in relation to their past positions vs a vis the EU, and the party have instigated a process whereby they have put in place a triple lock to ensure that the Ministers, regardless of the vote of the party members, will campaign to ratify the Treaty.

I'm not having a go Niall... the party is perfectly entitled to change its mind from the past. My own party has done that, and it isn't a sign of hypocrisy, but one of maturity

However, pretending that you've suddenly become all super democratic ?

Come on ...

[KingKane]

Brocolli, are you suggesting that previous Green Party positions were arrived at undemocratically?

[krayZpaving]

There's already a ton of threads on this.