4 good reasons when we said No, to say Yes to the Lisbon Treaty

(B2) As the French Socialists meet on November 6 to discuss their position on the future Treaty, it is good to ask ourselves: why, when we voted no in the last referendum in France, approve this Treaty today?

In my opinion, here are some good reasons:

• the term Constitution and everything that confers on the Union the character of a super-State is deleted, this may seem symbolic, but it is no less important. We remain on the traditional system of the International Treaty.

• the social and economic objectives of the EU are rebalanced, competition remains an instrument of the Union but is no longer an objective in itself.

• the role of national parliaments is (slightly) strengthened, which guarantees a certain form of subsidiarity. The right of popular initiative is retained (one million signatures in a petition to "suggest" legislative action to the Commission) - a principle which does not even exist in "French law"!

• public services are safeguarded, the operating principles (accessibility, equality, etc.) definitively anchored in the Treaty impose themselves on the directives (normally!).

When we look at this result, Laurent Fabius and some other nonists on the left are completely wrong in their analysis to persist in seeing this progress - modest certainly but unexpected in view of the often widespread maxim "the content of the Constitution is not renegotiable".