THE EUROPEAN Parliament will vote on a string of reports this week on the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty despite claims that it amounts to “prejudging” a second Irish referendum.
MEPs rejected a resolution by Sinn Féin MEP Mary Lou McDonald tabled last night to take a plenary debate and vote on the reports off the parliament’s agenda. “I want to request this package of reports be struck from the agenda of this session. This house should show some measure of humility and some respect for the democratic process. We all know Ireland has rejected the Lisbon Treaty,” said Ms McDonald. She warned that the vote on Thursday would ratchet up pressure on Ireland.
The five reports prepared by senior MEPs outline how the treaty should be implemented and discuss the impact it will have in the running of the parliament. They also outline how the parliament’s powers will be significantly boosted if the treaty enters into force.
Responding to Ms McDonald’s call for the vote on the reports to be scrapped, Green MEP Daniel Cohn-Bendit said her arguments were wide of the mark as the parliament’s debate and vote did not amount to adopting the treaty. “If it [Lisbon] is not adopted then everything we have discussed will fall and be null and void,” said Mr Bendit, who added that it would be irresponsible for MEPs not to prepare for ratification of the treaty.
MEPs voted against Ms McDonald’s resolution by 147 votes to 11, which means all parliamentarians will debate the reports tomorrow and vote on them on Thursday.
The decision on whether to debate the reports has proved highly contentious within the parliament amid fears that it could provide ammunition to No campaigners for the second Lisbon referendum. Two consecutive meetings of the conference of presidents of the political groups in the parliament had decided to postpone the debate and vote before they finally agreed last week to place the reports on the agenda.
Fianna Fáil MEP Brian Crowley, who sits on the conference of presidents as co-president of the UEN group, said yesterday he didn’t think the reports should be debated. “I thought we had plenty of other business to attend to in the plenary,” said Mr Crowley, who added that nothing would enter into force unless the Irish people voted in favour of the Lisbon Treaty in the planned second referendum.
German MEP Elmar Brok, who drew up a report on how national parliaments would interact with the European Parliament if Lisbon is implemented, denied debating the reports was “prejudging” a second Irish referendum. “The Irish people have the final say and no one can interfere with that . . . The communists are against this because they don’t have any positive view on European unity,” said Mr Brok in a reference to Sinn Féin’s partners in the GUE/NGL group in the parliament – the French and Greek communists.
Meanwhile, senators in the Czech Republic will finally vote on the treaty tomorrow following several delays to ratification. Observers expect senators to vote in favour of the treaty, which would leave Ireland as the last major hurdle for full ratification.