Listen to the Irish
José M. de Areilza
June 9, 2008
A friend of mine says that the Irish are a very fortunate people, because they are liked by everybody. According to him, everywhere an Irish goes she will find sympathy for her country. Well, not these days in the corridors of Brussels institutions and in some European capitals.
In face of a possible Irish No to the Lisbon Treaty, academic arguments about the inadequacy of referenda for ratification of EU Treaty reforms are rehearsed once again. Also back are enlightened despotism observations like “they are going to get it wrong, just can´t trust ordinary citizens with European democracy”. The irony is of course that the whole design behind the reform method and the form of the Lisbon Treaty was to avoid any referendum, even though the Treaty contains a lot of the Constitution rejected by the French and the Dutch people in 2005. It was a fast track reform, a return to the elitism of the original Communities. The masquerade was not perfect because the Irish Constitution demands a referendum for EU reforms, nevertheless.
What will the EU do if the only country likely to put the Lisbon treaty to a popular vote says No (for whatever reasons!)? The precedent of a second Irish vote on Treaty of Nice in 2002 (small countries can be asked to vote again) is not totally valid because a lot has happened since then in EU constitutional politics. Some voices in Brussels are proudly saying that there is no Plan B, as if this helped at all convey a positive message about the Treaty of Lisbon and about EU institutions (what do they do all day in Brussels if they don’t even spend time on Plans B?)
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No that the treaty has been rejected, I have already commented on a lot of blogs,so let me just repost what I have written in the comment thread at afoe:
I feel that it is rather inappropriate to ignore the voices of the 26 countries which decided to form a Union based on the Lisbon treaty only because Ireland voted ‘No’.
Rejecting the treaty is obviously their right. However the EU should try to move forward and implement the treaty, anyway. This also means that Ireland would have to leave the Union. However I think a new status for Ireland can be found, as a part of a free trade zone with Europe, which would allow the country to keep its full sovereignty over things like its foreign and defense policy, but wouldn’t stop the rest of the EU.
Comment by rz — June 13, 2008 @ 2:56 pm