Irish officials meet Danes for advice on Lisbon opt-outs

SENIOR IRISH officials met their Danish counterparts in Copenhagen earlier this month to get advice on how Ireland could opt out of significant provisions of the Lisbon Treaty in order to resolve the impasse created by the outcome of the referendum in June.

The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten reported that the Danish model, involving opt-outs from certain aspects of EU co-operation, was now being actively considered by the Government. Diplomatic sources in Dublin have confirmed the meeting took place. The newspaper reported a delegation from Dublin visited the foreign ministry in Copenhagen to discuss the technical legal provisions of the Danish agreement from 1993.

The Danish government responded to the rejection of the Maastricht Treaty by its electorate in 1992 by coming up with a proposal to opt out of four key areas of EU activity.

A second Danish referendum in 1993 approved the treaty in tandem with the proposal to opt out of the euro as well as defence, justice and common EU citizenship arrangements established under the treaty.

The Danish opt-outs and the legal drafting entailed in the process was the subject of the discussions with Irish officials, according to sources quoted by the paper. It added that Irish officials would return for further advice if it was required.

The Irish delegation was composed of officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Attorney General's office. According to sources, Danish officials emphasised that in 1992, its referendum result was regarded as a Danish problem, not an EU problem.

If Ireland proceeds down the road of seeking opt-outs from the treaty on issues like defence and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which provoked such controversy during the referendum campaign, the approval of all 26 EU partners would be required.

In that event, another referendum in Ireland would be necessary, but what form it would take and whether it would be one question or a combination of questions will not become clear for some time.

Jyllands-Posten quoted a leading Danish politician and social democrat spokesman on Europe, Svend Auken, as saying it was sensible for the Irish to investigate the various possibilities, but he pointed to the problems the opt-outs had created for Denmark. "There is a paradox that we teach other nations how to devise opt-outs when we are trying to get rid of them ourselves," he said.

Last November the Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, announced plans for one or more referendums to try and get rid of the opt-outs, which have caused ongoing difficulties in the relationship between Denmark and the rest of the EU.

However, following Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, the referendum plan was postponed.

Polls in Denmark had indicated the electorate would approve removing the opt-outs, but there was a shift back to a No majority following a European Court decision that EU states may not refuse entry or right of residence to non-EU spouses and family members.

The Taoiseach told reporters in Galway yesterday the question of whether a second referendum would be held "is a matter the Government has to consider in due course, but we are not at that point in our discussions at all yet. The point of discussion we are at at the moment is examining the outcome of the referendum and obviously there will be a lot meetings with EU colleagues between now and the end of the year where it will be discussed further with them. So it's not just a matter for our own personal consideration or national consideration, it is a matter we have to discuss with colleagues as well."

Also yesterday, French president Nicolas Sarkozy called on Irish voters to listen to other EU countries who wanted the treaty reforming the EU's institutions to come into force.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times