As European leaders are trying to come to terms with Ireland's stunning rejection of the revised EU treaty, they would be wise to listen to Charlie McCreevy:

The treaty refers to sub-paragraphs of former sub- paragraphs and other documents and there is no person this side of Timbuktu who would be in a position to understand it,'' Ireland's representative on the EU commission, Charlie McCreevy, told reporters in Dublin. While McCreevy backs the treaty, he said he hasn't read it.

The irony here is that the new treaty would actually make the European Commission, often accused of being opaque and antidemocratic, more accountable, not less. A pity advocates weren't able to communicate that more effectively.