European leaders on Thursday night sought to revive the ill-fated Lisbon Treaty by delivering pledges shoring up Irish independence in the hope of securing a “yes” vote in an Irish referendum in October.
But Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen told a summit of 27 government chiefs in Brussels that he would not win the referendum, expected on Oct. 2, unless the “guarantees” were legally enshrined in a new protocol that could cause problems for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other European leaders by reigniting old feuds over the treaty.
In June last year, the Irish derailed the Lisbon project by rejecting the treaty in a referendum. The rest of the EU has agreed to assure Ireland that the new regime will not affect Irish military neutrality, abortion laws, taxation policy and the Irish are also guaranteed a seat in the European Commission.
The summit planned to issue a “legally binding” declaration on the promises to the Irish, on the assumption that they vote yes to the treaty which would then come into force next January.
But Cowen told the European leaders bluntly that this was not good enough.
“I need to be able to come out of our meeting and state, without fear of contradiction, that the legal guarantees will acquire full treaty status by way of a protocol,” he said. “I want to emphasize sincerely that this is necessary if I am to call and win a second referendum.”
Leaders had expected to resolve the Irish issue early last night at the beginning of the summit. But the differences and the implications of the Irish demands saw the attempt to hatch a compromise drag on overnight.
With the Conservatives the fiercest opponents in Europe of the Lisbon treaty, Brown’s paramount aim is to avoid any changes to the document that might see it returned to the House of Commons.
“The issue for us is you don’t want to be in a position to re-ratify Lisbon,” Brown said.
The chances are that the dispute will turn out to be a minor upset. If the Irish vote yes and Lisbon is put into effect in January, the wrangling will subside and be forgotten.
The Irish dilemma aside, the leaders were also expected to support Jose Manuel Barroso, the center-right former Portuguese prime minister, for a second five-year term as head of the European Commission.
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