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Latest update: 16/07/2008
- European Union - Ireland - referendum
Sarkozy: Irish must vote again on Lisbon referendum
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said that Ireland will have to vote for a second time on the Lisbon Treaty, a referendum the country rejected a month ago. France began its turn at the EU presidency on July 1.
PARIS - Ireland will have to hold a second referendum
on the European Union's reform treaty after Irish voters
rejected it last month, French President Nicolas Sarkozy
said on Tuesday.
"The Irish will have to vote again," he told deputies from
his UMP party at a meeting in his office, several lawmakers who
attended said.
The Irish 'No' vote plunged the EU into a fresh crisis of
confidence because the treaty, designed to overhaul the
27-nation bloc's institutions, cannot come into force until it
has been ratified by all member states.
Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU's rotating six-month
presidency, is due to travel to Ireland on July 21 to discuss
the reasons for the Irish 'No' vote and seek a solution to it,
which he hopes to put forward by the end of the year.
Sarkozy's office said on Tuesday he would not go to Dublin
with a ready-made plan to present to Irish Prime Minister Brian
Cowen, despite a report that planning was well underway.
"The president is coming to listen to the Irish, to listen
to what Brian Cowen tells him. He is not coming to make
proposals," one adviser to Sarkozy said.
"It is not up to us to make proposals," he added. "It is up
to the Irish to tell us what the problem is and what they need
to resolve it."
Irish voters rejected the treaty for a variety of reasons,
ranging from fears that the new EU order would lead to legalised
abortion and higher taxes, to the fact that many of them found
the highly technical text incomprehensible.
French newspaper Le Monde said one of the favoured options
being examined in the search for a solution was reversing the
planned streamlining of the EU executive, the Commission, to
keep the current system of one commissioner per country.
"The reform of the European Commission should be sacrificed
on the altar of the Irish 'No' vote to the treaty of Lisbon,"
the newspaper said, using the treaty's official name.
An official in Sarkozy's office said that idea was "in the
air rather than on the table".
Le Monde said offering Ireland guarantees on abortion,
Ireland's neutrality, and taxation was also being envisaged.
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Comments (4)
"the Irish will have to hold a second referendum"......
Mr Sarkozy,the Irish will not "have to" do anything of the kind.Au contraire,you President Sarkozy will "have to listen" to the voice of the Irish when you come here to Dublin on 21st.The Taoiseach of Ireland Mr Brian Cowen will tell you what to do when you come;that is - "listen" Mr Sarkozy. Monsieur le President,will you "listen" ? Merci beaucoup.
Pathetic...
So pathetic to watch these so called democracies ignore the will of their people; or ask them again and again until they vote the way they are asked to...
Sarkozy would like to
Sarkozy would like to achieve two goals during the French Presidency of the European Union: pass the Lisbon treaty and regain his popularity at home. However, his ability to seek disaster is true to form. Already leaks of his private meetings illustrate his strategy: force Ireland to vote again or prevent enlargement. It is like a kidnapper using himself as hostage, but the EU attracts the crazies.
Such statements are unlikely to persuade the Irish government that a second vote is justified. If Sarkozy thinks that he can bully this into existence, he is about to run aground of political reality and become even more unpopular. As usual, Brown's governments stands disgracefully aside and allows our small neighbour to be bullied.
What price democracy
It seems staggering that we sit back and watch the people of Zimbabwe being murdered and beaten trying to use their vote to affect change and a the same time Sarkozy wants to rubbish and ignore the voters of Ireland in their rejection of the Lisbon treaty. Is it any wonder that the majority of voters both distrust and view politicians with disgust when our views and opinions are treated with such disdain by them.