EU could face crisis over Ireland referendum
Critics of the EU's Lisbon treaty in Ireland, which will vote on the ratification of the document Thursday, are a diverse group, Reuters says.
Monday, 09.06.2008.
19:49
Critics of the EU's Lisbon treaty in Ireland, which will vote on the ratification of the document Thursday, are a diverse group, Reuters says. But what unites them is the belief that the treaty would undermine democracy. EU could face crisis over Ireland referendum Opponents of the pact include pacifists, anti-abortionists, nationalists and a handful of business executives who all share the view that Ireland and its people will be left with a weaker voice in the 27-member group. An opinion poll published Friday indicated that their campaign might succeed. Rejection by Ireland, the only EU member country that is holding a referendum on the treaty, could unravel years of work to reach an agreement over how the rapidly expanding bloc should be run. "On the democracy issue, across the no campaigners, you will find that is a key concern emerging," Mary Lou McDonald, a European Parliament deputy from the Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein, said during an interview. The anti-treaty camp argues that the pact will give more powers to the EU, strengthen the voice of larger states at the expense of smaller ones and leave loopholes enabling the bloc to compromise Irish neutrality and dilute its control over taxes, trade and abortion. Prime Minister Brian Cowen of Ireland has accused opponents of the draft treaty of spreading fear and confusion by campaigning on extraneous issues. The official referendum monitor in Ireland, whose task is to inform the public about the issues at stake, and the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin have rejected concerns that the treaty would open the way for the EU to weaken Ireland's strict abortion and euthanasia laws. But Libertas, a policy research group headed by Declan Ganley, a businessman, said that he believed the treaty would give up power to "an unelected elite in Brussels" and that it was little more than a rehash of the EU draft constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005. Other opponents say smaller states would see their share of votes shrink on the decision-making European Council, since the distribution of votes would be weighted according to population size. They also object to states' losing permanent representation on the European Commission, the EU executive body. Cowen said Ireland had ensured that commission posts would rotate equally among all countries. The treaty, he said Friday on RTE radio, resolves "the whole question of expressing equality of treatment for all countries." Pro-treaty parties say that as well as strengthening EU leadership, the pact would give national Parliaments a say in drafting laws, reviewing proposals, and demanding amendments when at least one-third of them object. Critics of the draft treaty say that whichever way the vote goes, they have at least ensured a proper debate in a country where almost the entire political establishment is backing the pact. "We have forced them at least to some extent to actually knuckle down and deal with concrete issues," said McDonald of Sinn Fein. The surge in support for opponents of the treaty has alarmed some of its advocates, who say there is no alternative to fall back on. But Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel of Slovenia, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said he remained confident. "I still believe that the Irish referendum will succeed," he said. "I'm very sure of that." Other supporters of the draft treaty made it clear they were concerned. "We've been struggling to reform for years and there is no prospect of renegotiating the treaty," said Andrew Duff, a supporter of the pact and British Liberal member of the European Parliament. José Ignacio Torreblanca, a senior research fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said. "People are very scared in Brussels, because it is going to be a real mess if the Irish vote no." Britain and others could then suspend ratification, leaving the EU to continue under decision-making structures straining under the weight of 27 member states. "A no vote would unleash a sort of chain reaction," Torreblanca said. The treaty would create a long-term president of the European Council of EU leaders, a stronger foreign policy chief with a real diplomatic service, a more democratic voting system and more say for the national and European Parliaments. If the anti-treaty camp prevails, it would turn a meeting of EU leaders the following week into a crisis session and put a cloud over the incoming French EU presidency and its goal of ensuring the treaty comes into force. "Of all European countries, Ireland is one of those which has been able most magnificently to adapt to the European Union," President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said Friday. He urged a vote in favor of the treaty while visiting Athens on Friday in preparation for France assuming the EU presidency next month. "I hope that the Irish understand the extremely important issues at stake for them and for us," Sarkozy said.
EU could face crisis over Ireland referendum
Opponents of the pact include pacifists, anti-abortionists, nationalists and a handful of business executives who all share the view that Ireland and its people will be left with a weaker voice in the 27-member group.An opinion poll published Friday indicated that their campaign might succeed. Rejection by Ireland, the only EU member country that is holding a referendum on the treaty, could unravel years of work to reach an agreement over how the rapidly expanding bloc should be run.
"On the democracy issue, across the no campaigners, you will find that is a key concern emerging," Mary Lou McDonald, a European Parliament deputy from the Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein, said during an interview.
The anti-treaty camp argues that the pact will give more powers to the EU, strengthen the voice of larger states at the expense of smaller ones and leave loopholes enabling the bloc to compromise Irish neutrality and dilute its control over taxes, trade and abortion.
Prime Minister Brian Cowen of Ireland has accused opponents of the draft treaty of spreading fear and confusion by campaigning on extraneous issues.
The official referendum monitor in Ireland, whose task is to inform the public about the issues at stake, and the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin have rejected concerns that the treaty would open the way for the EU to weaken Ireland's strict abortion and euthanasia laws.
But Libertas, a policy research group headed by Declan Ganley, a businessman, said that he believed the treaty would give up power to "an unelected elite in Brussels" and that it was little more than a rehash of the EU draft constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.
Other opponents say smaller states would see their share of votes shrink on the decision-making European Council, since the distribution of votes would be weighted according to population size. They also object to states' losing permanent representation on the European Commission, the EU executive body.
Cowen said Ireland had ensured that commission posts would rotate equally among all countries. The treaty, he said Friday on RTE radio, resolves "the whole question of expressing equality of treatment for all countries."
Pro-treaty parties say that as well as strengthening EU leadership, the pact would give national Parliaments a say in drafting laws, reviewing proposals, and demanding amendments when at least one-third of them object.
Critics of the draft treaty say that whichever way the vote goes, they have at least ensured a proper debate in a country where almost the entire political establishment is backing the pact.
"We have forced them at least to some extent to actually knuckle down and deal with concrete issues," said McDonald of Sinn Fein.
The surge in support for opponents of the treaty has alarmed some of its advocates, who say there is no alternative to fall back on. But Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel of Slovenia, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said he remained confident.
"I still believe that the Irish referendum will succeed," he said. "I'm very sure of that."
Other supporters of the draft treaty made it clear they were concerned.
"We've been struggling to reform for years and there is no prospect of renegotiating the treaty," said Andrew Duff, a supporter of the pact and British Liberal member of the European Parliament.
José Ignacio Torreblanca, a senior research fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said. "People are very scared in Brussels, because it is going to be a real mess if the Irish vote no."
Britain and others could then suspend ratification, leaving the EU to continue under decision-making structures straining under the weight of 27 member states. "A no vote would unleash a sort of chain reaction," Torreblanca said.
The treaty would create a long-term president of the European Council of EU leaders, a stronger foreign policy chief with a real diplomatic service, a more democratic voting system and more say for the national and European Parliaments.
If the anti-treaty camp prevails, it would turn a meeting of EU leaders the following week into a crisis session and put a cloud over the incoming French EU presidency and its goal of ensuring the treaty comes into force.
"Of all European countries, Ireland is one of those which has been able most magnificently to adapt to the European Union," President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said Friday.
He urged a vote in favor of the treaty while visiting Athens on Friday in preparation for France assuming the EU presidency next month.
"I hope that the Irish understand the extremely important issues at stake for them and for us," Sarkozy said.
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