>>while this is the spin that the European establishment
>>are putting on the vote it is not very accurate. Almost
>>all (if not all) of the various No campaigns said they
>>were in favour of enlargement
>But the question is which part of the campaign really mobilized the end vote
>against Nice? I'm not claiming a clear answer and of course I only have
>media interpretations, so it's quite possible I have the wrong impression.
>But it did seem from commentary, both in the media and on the street, that
>there was a certain parochialism involved, a fear of losing the advantages
>Ireland has had from the present EU as a tax haven and recipient of regional
>aid. Maybe the fear of having to pay taxes to fund economic development in
>Eastern Europe was not a factor in the vote, but that seemed a real
>concern -- or would you say that was just media bias in reporting?
Most if not all of the no campaigns said they had nothing against enlargement, and argued against the governments attempt to link enlargement to the Nice vote. Interestingly Prodi who is hear at them moment has pissed off the government by admitting that legally this is true. In addition some of the no campaign was based on opposition to a two tier Europe (Nice means that the Eastern countries would come in with a reduced set of rights including reduced cash from the EU). So at least in some cases this is the opposite.
I can't claim to know what was in the minds of everyone as they voted but I do no none of the no campaigns made a big deal out of the cost of taking in the Eastern states (the right wing no campaigns were however warning against an infux of eastern europeans). While there was definite nastyness in some of what was being said then anti-enlargement spin was something largely invented by the media (and in the international case by a media that was not even present until after the vote).
Andrew
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International anarchism
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