TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen has pledged to hold a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in the first week of October after securing legal guarantees from EU leaders.
At a summit in Brussels, he told journalists the concerns of the Irish people had been addressed because its guarantees on taxation, neutrality and ethical issues would be incorporated into the EU treaties.
He said he wanted to consult his Cabinet colleagues next week and bring the necessary legislation before the Dáil before announcing the exact date of the referendum.
“We came here with two aims. Ireland wanted firm legal guarantees. We got them. We wanted a commitment to a protocol. We got that,” said Mr Cowen, who added that he did not contemplate defeat in the referendum.
European Commission president José Manuel Barroso, who won political backing from EU leaders for a second term at the two-day summit, said he thought the Irish public would now back the treaty in an autumn referendum. “This gives me confidence we will have a Yes vote in Ireland . . . the Irish Government got everything it was asking from colleagues,” he said.
Ireland initially faced opposition from several EU states to its request for a protocol, which would ensure its guarantees will be incorporated into the treaties. Britain, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia all raised concerns that granting a protocol could reopen the debate on the treaty because it would have to be ratified through all 27 EU national parliaments.
Mr Cowen took part in a series of bilateral negotiations with British prime minister Gordon Brown at the summit in an effort to alleviate his concerns that the Irish guarantees could change the Lisbon Treaty. By yesterday afternoon they finally agreed on a formula, which will enable the guarantees to be ratified by EU states at the same time as the next EU accession treaty. This is likely to be when Croatia joins the union in 2010 or 2011. To alleviate the concerns of Britain, the summit conclusions also specify that the Irish guarantees “will in no way alter the relationship between the EU and its member states”.
“The protocol will clarify but not change either the content or the application of the treaty of Lisbon,” say the conclusions.
Czech prime minister Jan Fischer, who chaired the summit as his country holds the EU presidency, underlined this at the summit press conference. “It is an explanatory clarifying text which changes not a dot nor comma of the Lisbon Treaty. The guarantees and the way they are adopted will not lead to a ratification process,” said Mr Fischer, who faces pressure over the Lisbon Treaty from Eurosceptic Czech president Vaclav Klaus.
Mr Klaus, who has refused to sign the treaty to complete ratification in the Czech Republic, has told the government he feels the Irish guarantees will need to be ratified in the Czech parliament to make them legally binding.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has proposed that Government and Opposition parties which support the Lisbon Treaty should hold talks on the campaign for a Yes vote. Labour welcomed the outcome of the summit, while Green Party leader John Gormley said he was “especially pleased” with the guarantees on Ireland’s military neutrality.
Sinn Féin and other anti-Lisbon Treaty campaigners criticised the outcome. Newly-elected Socialist MEP for Dublin Joe Higgins said the Government would try to “terrify the people” into voting Yes “because of the catastrophic economic crisis”.