19 June 2008
Can the treaty proceed without Ireland?
It is sometimes suggested that the Lisbon treaty should go ahead on the basis of only 26 ratifications, without Ireland, after the result of the referendum last week. Looking at the text of the Lisbon treaty, this is clearly impossible. In the final provisions of the treaty, Article 6 reads as follows:
"1. This Treaty shall be ratified by the High Contracting Parties in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Government of the Italian Republic.
2. This Treaty shall enter into force on 1 January 2009, provided that all the instruments of ratification have been deposited, or, failing that, on the first day of the month following the deposit of the instrument of ratification by the last signatory State to take this step."
All ratifications are needed for the treaty to take effect. 26 will not do.
Now, there is an alternative strategy: that the 26 draw up a new treaty containing the provisions of Lisbon and adopt that instead. However, that course of action would require a new set of ratifications of the new treaty in the 26 member states, and would mean an end to the European Union as we know it. Not impossible, but undoubtedly unwelcome, and almost certainly so unlikely as to be not worth talking about. The treaty, if there is to be one, needs an Irish Yes.
"1. This Treaty shall be ratified by the High Contracting Parties in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Government of the Italian Republic.
2. This Treaty shall enter into force on 1 January 2009, provided that all the instruments of ratification have been deposited, or, failing that, on the first day of the month following the deposit of the instrument of ratification by the last signatory State to take this step."
All ratifications are needed for the treaty to take effect. 26 will not do.
Now, there is an alternative strategy: that the 26 draw up a new treaty containing the provisions of Lisbon and adopt that instead. However, that course of action would require a new set of ratifications of the new treaty in the 26 member states, and would mean an end to the European Union as we know it. Not impossible, but undoubtedly unwelcome, and almost certainly so unlikely as to be not worth talking about. The treaty, if there is to be one, needs an Irish Yes.
Posted by Richard Laming at 23:09
An Irish Yes on the same question?
The Lisbon Reform Treaty is dead. Unlike its withdrawn predecessor, the European Consitutional Treaty, the Lisbon treaty's own text provided the Irish with the weapon to kill it through requiring ratification by all 27 member states. Such a super-democratic provision did not sit well with a treaty which, in other respects, suffered from serious democratic deficits and thus invited rejection. Many of the Irish people who voted NO were not voting against European unity but against bureacracy and complexity, and FOR democracy and simplicity. The Irish have thus given us the opportunity to find a more democratic way forward and should be rewarded, perhaps with an open international conference in Dublin - organised by the EU and the Irish Government, but not limited to delegates from EU governments - that could guide the EU to devising a treaty to make it both more efficient AND more democratic, and which could come into effect when ratified by a simple majority of member states. With the global problems we face today, the world needs a strong and united EU. We can't afford to wait too long to achieve it.
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