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According the the Sunday Times - No 10 admits EU treaty is finished
by infomatique | June 14, 2008 at 08:06 pm | 261 views | 4 comments
I buy the Sunday Times every Sunday although I feel that it has a "slightly anti-Irish" view. While my belief that it is slightly anti-Irish may be due to my over avtive imagination there is no doubting the fact that it is very much anti the "European Project" and it advised, in its editorial last Sunday, that Irish voters should vote against the treaty.
I am very much in favour of closer integration for Ireland within Europe but I am now very concerned by the attitude of some European bullies (sorry I meant politicians) even though I had always suspected that they would try to go ahead with or without Ireland. While I do understand the argument that less than 2,000,000 people cannot be allowed to determine the future for 26 other European nations I really do believe that if the politicians do decided to overlook the rule requiring all 27 nations to agree to the treaty then the European project will be badly damaged and that we will end up with a total mess.
It is interesting to note that the $ has increased in value relative to the Euro as a result of the Irish "NO" vote.
No 10 admits EU treaty is finished Jonathan Oliver, Political Editor and Nicola Smith in BrusselsIreland's referendum results in full | YouGov survey results in full
Gordon Brown is privately ready to sacrifice the Lisbon treaty rather than allow the Irish no vote to create a two-tier Europe.
Despite the Irish referendum, France, Germany and senior Brussels officials have insisted there should be no delay in implementing the European Union blueprint. But No 10 sources say the prime minister would rather see the entire constitutional treaty collapse than allow individual member states to be left trailing in a two-speed Europe.
The collapse of the Lisbon treaty would take the heat off Brown as he faces down renewed calls for Britain to have its own referendum. If Europe presses ahead without Ireland, it would set a precedent for a two-speed club, with Britain likely to be stuck in the second tier.
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A Downing Street source said: “The legal position on this is very clear: the treaty cannot come into force until all 27 countries have ratified it.”
One senior government official said anyone who thought the Irish vote could be ignored was “living in cloud-cuckoo-land”. The leaders of the EU’s 27 members states will meet this week in Brussels, but yesterday the Irish government ruled out forcing through a second referendum.
William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, said European leaders had to heed the no vote or risk looking “remote, out of touch and more undemocratic than ever”.
However, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president who will take over the rotating EU presidency next month, dismissed the Irish vote as a “hiccup” that should “not become a political crisis”.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s foreign minister, went further, stating that the Lisbon treaty provisions, which include the creation of a permanent EU president and the widespread abolition of national vetoes, could be implemented without Ireland.
“Ireland for a period of time could leave the way free for the integration of the other 26 member states,” he said.
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June 14, 2008 at 08:06 pm by infomatique, 261 views, 4 comments
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infomatique
Dublin, Ireland
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Comments (4)
at 20:19 on June 14th, 2008
infomatique, Interesting piece. I like your introduction too.
at 18:08 on June 15th, 2008
infomatique, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 19:45 on June 15th, 2008
infomatique, excellent anaylysis
at 20:11 on June 15th, 2008
infomatique, I like this story. It's good stuff.. Many thanks to the Irish, they have voted the same way as the English would have, if they had been given a vote. .