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THE LISBON TREATY IN A DEADLOCK 17/06/2008
(2008-06-17)
Last updated: 2008-06-18 16:20 EET Print
Ireland is the only EU country to have submitted the Treaty to a referendum, under the 1987 ruling of the Supreme Court. Ireland, with 4.1 million inhabitants, about half of whom attended the referendum, said NO to the Lisbon Treaty. The Treaty provides among other things for the EU president position and a European diplomatic service to be established and for greater powers to be granted to the national Parliaments and to the European Parliament. According to Romanian Euro MP Adrian Severin, the Irish NO vote is not a victory of democracy, but a last blow dealt at the idea of democracy. In turn, Romanian foreign minister Lazar Comanescu said after his talks with his European counterparts in Luxembourg that there was, quote “ a powerful solidarity and determination around the idea of the ratification process being continued.” Unquote. He also expressed hope that the EU states will jointly find the way to make the Union stronger and more efficient, for the benefit of all its citizens. The European foreign ministers say that the Lisbon Treaty does exist, even if for the time being, there is no solution to save it. In order to find such a solution, this week, EU leaders will have a number of meetings. Slovene foreign minister Dmitrij Rupel, whose country is holding the rotating EU presidency, commissioner for enlargement, Olli Rehn and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana believe that Ireland’s NO vote will not bear on the EU enlargement process. Rupel said that the implications of the Irish NO vote would be examined with the EU member states and with partner states in the coming period. The president of the European Parliament, Hans Gert Poettering has called on the European Council to take all necessary measures for the Lisbon Treaty to take effect before the elections to the European Parliament scheduled in June 2009. The European official underscored that the EU accession of other European countries was practically impossible without the reforms laid down in the Lisbon Treaty. He said that the ratification process must continue, calling on the Irish government to come up with proposals for that difficult moment in the European policies to be overcome. The fate of the Lisbon Treaty is decided by the 27 EU member states, 19 of which, including Romania, have already ratified it.

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