EU: No means yes

Article originally from here.

After the Dutch voted against the EU Constitution, Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende declared that the issue was off the table. Well, predictably, that turns out not to be the case.

The new parliamentary agenda which was published last week, features two references to the EU Constitution and how the Dutch government might go about reviving it. The link is in Dutch and by subscription, but here it is.

http://www.nrc.nl/dossiers/Europese_Grondwet/artikel/1127108898336.html

Under the heading "Cabinet has not given up on EU Constitution", the article states that the government will take up the issue in time for the EU ministerial in June 2006. However, the instructive part, roughly translated, is this:

"The Foreign Ministry budget for 2006 includes a research study by the Social and Cultural Planning Office – that's a government agency which "conducts research into the social aspects of all areas of government policy". And that study seems to conclude that the 1 June referendum vote was actually not a vote against the EU or the Constitution but merely expressed dissatisfaction about European decision-making processes. The government thinks that the June 2006 discussion concerning Europe should include a remedy against this shortcoming."

So there you have it: The Dutch "Social and Cultural Planning Office" has concluded that voters who voted against the EU Constitution did not vote against the EU Constitution.
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I swear the EU looks like it has something on every leader of the countries in the EU. When does no not mean no? Do the EU not understand the word no?

I hope it doesn't happen here.