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		EU Commission "to rig Irish referendum" Thursday, 19th March 2009 According to reports in the Irish press, the EU Commission is planning an "information" campaign designed to influence the outcome of the second Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, expected this autumn. A meeting took place in Brussels on March 18th between the Commission and Mr. Martin Territt, head of the EU's representation in Dublin, to plan the campaign, which is expected to involve expenditure of around €2 million. Back in 2007 ahead of the first Irish referendum on Lisbon, a complaint was lodged by former Green MEP Patricia McKenna with the Irish Broadcasting Complaints Commission that the proposed EU Commission "information" campaign in Ireland was likely to influence (and clearly intended to influence) the outcome of the referendum. The complaint was upheld and the EU Commission's commercials were ruled to be political and therefore in breach of Irish broadcasting rules. Now the Commission is trying again. East Midlands Conservative MEP Roger Helmer believes that the Commission's plan is an improper use of tax-payers' money, arguing that it is scandalous for the Commission to seek to influence the outcome of a referendum in this way. He believes that it is morally equivalent to the government of a member-state using public funds to campaign for the governing party in a general election. He has accordingly tabled a Written Question to the Commission, calling on them to abandon the plan. Speaking in Brussels, Helmer said "It is scandalous enough that the EU institutions have rejected the democratic decision of the Irish people in the first referendum, and are demanding a second referendum -- although the EU repeatedly rejects NO votes and requires member-states to vote again. But to use tax-payers' money to influence the outcome is a disgrace. The EU is fundamentally anti-democratic, and examples like this prove the point".