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The centre of gravity in Brussels shifted
June 13, 2008
The moment Dermot Ahern, Irish justice minister, conceded that defeat was inevitable yesterday lunchtime the action in Brussels, shifted from the Berlaymont, the 13-storey star-shaped home of the European Commission, to a scruffy Irish bar on the other side of the street.
No campaign activists clustered in the shadow of the ‘Berlaymonster” they loathe, to celebrate the Irish rejection of the Lisbon treaty. It felt as though they had been joined in Kitty O’Shea’s by almost every reporter and camera crew in town. Even supporters of the Yes campaign were drawn to Kitty O’Shea’s in order to find a journalist to give their views to. With a pint (sorry half-litre), of Guinness in one hand, Nigel Farage, leader of the eurosceptic UK Independence party, accosted Andrew Duff, the British Liberal MEP who had played a role in drafting the original constitution. Would he accept defeat, Mr Farage demanded? Certainly not to him, was the riposte, before Mr Duff stomped off to address the waiting microphones.
It was as raw as genteel Brussels gets. “We keep asking the people and they keep saying No,” whooped Mr Farage - or, as another supporter of the No vote put it: “three out of three isn’t bad”.
After the Dutch and French rejection of the constitution that forced Brussels back to spend “a period of reflection” before going back to the drawing board to draw up the Lisbon Treaty, there was a sense of déjà vu. But this blow may be harder for Brussels to recover from. As each No result was displayed on the pub’s big screen TV a cheer went up. But the biggest roar was reserved for the appearance of MEP Kathy Sinnott, at the Cork count. The independent Brussels politician who was one of only two MEP to oppose the treaty. Her son was in the pub audience.
Joady Sinnott, 35, works for his mum and said: “This vote was not anti-Europe. The Irish love Europe. But if it is going to get more powers it has to get more democratic.” Gerard MaCarthy, an Irish waiter at the pub, disagreed. “I would have voted yes,” he said. “The Irish should remember all the money we got for infrastructure. It was only 60 years ago that Europe was at war. We should try to improve it not reject it.” Waiting for some word, any word, from the Commission - protocol decreed that Irish leaders speak first - diplomats huddle in corners plotting the future.
“There are a couple of ways forward,” joked one. “We could wait for climate change to drown Ireland or, since it’s halfway across the Atlantic anyway, tell them to join Nafta.”
After the doom and gloom comes the time to grasp the nettle.
The Irish No has to be respected, which means that they have to formulate what they want for their future. The same goes for others, if such appear.
The will of the ratifying states, 18 and counting, needs as much respect.
If the political will is there, the ratifying states can amend the Lisbon Treaty to enter into force between themselves by 1 January 2009.
The needed modifications are small enough to allow the energetic French presidency to implement their presidency programme with fairly little disruption.
Finally binging this stage of protracted treaty reform process to an end, would liberate the new EU to start thinking deeply about the goals of the Laeken declaration still awaiting answers.
Posted by: Ralf Grahn | June 14th, 2008 at 6:11 am | Report this comment“if the political will is there, the ratifying states can amend the Lisbon Treaty to enter into force between themselves by 1 January 2009.”
It requires the ratification of ALL member states. There is no way around the current unanimity. The only area of this treaty that can go forth is the reduction of the commissioners as this was already agreed upon in the Nice Treaty.
“The Irish should remember all the money we got for infrastructure.”
It is dangerous to suggest that democracy is for sale. This is an avenue that Brussels does not want to go down as it would have far reaching consequences in the left of the European electorate.
Posted by: Will | June 14th, 2008 at 7:47 pm | Report this commentIt would also have an effect on the economy of the EU to the tune of $250BN and, seeing as Ireland pulls well above its weight (2nd only to luxembourg) within the EU with regard to GDP per capita, I would think it would be rather disingenuous to suggest that the EU would even consider Irelands exclusion.
*Let it also be noted that Ireland has a population of 4.7M compared to Luxembourgs 480,000.
Posted by: Will | June 15th, 2008 at 1:41 am | Report this comment“if [the EU] is going to get more powers it has to get more democratic”
What’s so principled about MEPs campaigning to get more powers for themselves?
The ‘No’ votes in France, Netherlands and Ireland all depended on coalitions of people with nothing in common, competing visions of an EU that is ‘perfect’, but only for some.
It’s clear that (too?) many Europeans are happy to continue losing influence in the world to the US, to Russia, to China and to India, rather than compromise with other European nations.
We’ll continue to squabble amongst ourselves while the major powers play ‘divide and rule’.
Posted by: David | June 16th, 2008 at 10:28 am | Report this comment