It is not only in Ireland under pressure from the referendum that opponents of the Lisbon Treaty are spouting untruths to their readers. An open letter published the day before the Irish referendum in the Brussels newspaper “Le Soir” is a fabric of lies, even inventing a secret agenda behind the treaty. Everyone is of course entitled to criticise, speak out against and reject the Lisbon Treaty, but plain lying is another matter. Here are just the first few lines of the open letter: “The current Nice Treaty gives each country the right to have a European commissioner, whereas the Lisbon Treaty would make it possible to have a smaller European Commission”. In fact, the truth is just the opposite. Under the Nice Treaty, the number of commissioners must be less than the number of member states, and in a few weeks' time, we will see this when the new European Commission is formed before the Lisbon Treaty comes into force in order to avoid a power vacuum. The Lisbon Treaty leaves heads of state free to decide on this, and they have already formally pledged to return to “one member state, one commissioner”. This is just one example and is followed by other statements that are just as untrue, like the idea that the Commission and the European Parliament “already have a clear idea in their heads,” namely to set up a vast transatlantic market in 2015 hand-in-hand with the United States. This carefully worded open letter ends by arguing that if the Irish vote in favour of the Lisbon Treaty, this would mean Europe would engage in deregulation, a restriction of people's rights, lower social security and abandoning solidarity. The document is signed by four leading lights - a community councillor, the secretary general of a trade union, a “political expert”, and a “sociologist” from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. I doubt that prestigious university is very proud of the matter. (F.R./transl.fl)