Jun 13, 2008, 13:52 GMT
Dublin - As the European Union's Lisbon Treaty looked set for defeat in Ireland Friday, speculation was mounting as to what Ireland would do next.
Visitors to the Irish capital stroll past graffiti advising the population to reject the Lisbon Treaty, in Dublin 13 June 2008. Following yesterday's referendum, early reports are seeing a 60-40 rejection of the Lisbon Treaty Referendum in Ireland. EPA/AIDAN CRAWLEY
'We now find ourselves in uncharted water,' Minister of Justice of the ruling Fianna Fail party Dermot Ahern said.
'It now looks as if the remaining EU member states will go ahead and ratify the treaty, so if we are the only country that does not ratify it, this raises questions,' he added.
Leader of the Libertas group, which spearheaded the no campaign, Declan Ganley, said that Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen now 'had a clear mandate to go back to Brussels' to renegotiate the treaty.
In response to the suggestion that the prime minister would be in a very difficult situation in any attempt to renegotiate the treaty as the Irish people had voted no for a disparate number of reasons, Ganley said that Libertas opposed the treaty for very specific reasons.
He emphasized that Libertas, the pan-European think thank that led the anti-treaty campaign, wanted the situation with regard to tax harmonization and voting weighting system reassessed.
'We have also been campaigning for more democracy and transparency,' he addded.
Anti-treaty MEP Mary Lou McDonald, representing nationalist Sinn Fein, the only party to campaign against the treaty, rejected charges that Ireland's no vote would isolate the country.
'The government will be isolated if it chooses an isolated spot,' she said.
'This is a moment of democratic truth,' she added, stressing that the prime minister would have to get the treaty negotiated.
Sinn Fein, which campaigned primarily on the grounds that the treaty would compromise Ireland's neutrality, also claimed the treaty would open the door to tax harmonization, forcing Ireland to scrap the low corporate taxes that have attracted many foreign companies to the country.
Fears in the yes camp Friday included that after an Irish rejection of the treaty, the treaty would collapse and member states would come together in groups to move forward on areas where they have been frustrated by the Irish vote.
Analyst Pat Cox, who served as president of the European Parliament from 2002 to 2004, was not optimistic about Cowen's ability o meet the demands articulated by the Irish electorate as the Irish had 'voted no on a disparate range of issues.'
While the no side were talking up the opportunity for re- negotiation for a more favourable treaty for Ireland, there was a strong feeling amongst ordinary voters that Ireland would once again be facing a repeat of Nice - so good Ireland voted on it twice.
On June 7, 2001, Irish voters rejected the Nice treaty in a referendum characterized by low turnout and a highly-motivated no campaign which made much play of the warning that the treaty would undermine Ireland's neutrality.
The Irish government went on to seek assurances from the EU that the treaty would not breach its neutrality before calling a second referendum, which returned a yes on October 19, 2002. The Nice treaty came into force on February 1, 2003.
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BOZOJun 13th, 2008 - 15:35:10
TELL THOSE IN BRUSSELS THEY SHOULD WORK HARDER TO PRODUCE A BETTER CONSTITUTION (OR TREATY, WHATEVER) NEXT TIME.
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BOZOJun 13th, 2008 - 15:35:10
TELL THOSE IN BRUSSELS THEY SHOULD WORK HARDER TO PRODUCE A BETTER CONSTITUTION (OR TREATY, WHATEVER) NEXT TIME.
Report this comment