European parties say treaty can't be changed for Ireland
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Friday June 20 2008
EUROPEAN leaders feel it would be "impossible" to renegotiate the Lisbon Treaty, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said yesterday.
But a referendum re-run of the existing Lisbon Treaty would lose again, Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore told his EU colleagues.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen wasn't the only political leader in Brussels for the EU Summit.
The 'Yes' and 'No' campaigns in last week's referendum were well represented too.
Mr Kenny was meeting with leaders of the parties in Fine Gael's European Parliament group, the EPP, and Mr Gilmore met with his counterparts from the Socialist Group.
'No' campaigners, Patricia McKenna of the People's Movement, Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party and Mary-Lou McDonald were also in Brussels highlighting their cause.
Sympathetic
Mr Kenny said most of the EU leaders he encountered were sympathetic to the Irish cause, but were not in favour of a renegotiation.
"There was a very strong view from a number of people that it would be impossible to open a total renegotiation of the Lisbon Treaty," he said.
Labour leader Mr Gilmore also said he detected a "minority view" among his group that the Irish had messed up the Lisbon ratification.
He advised his colleagues against assuming a second referendum would be successful.
"I told them that if you were to put the proposition now and even with declarations attached it would not be successful," he said.
Mr Gilmore also said he believed issues relating to immigration were a feature of the 'No' vote.
Former Socialist Party TD was in town to tell EU leaders 'No' does not mean 'Yes'.
"We're here to teach them some vocabulary. They must understand that 'No' does not mean 'Yes'," he said.
Protest
Mr Higgins was accompanied by Belgian Socialists at a protest near the EU summit.
Former Green Party MEP Patricia McKenna was also on the fringes of the summit conveying her message that the treaty should be renegotiated from scratch.
"What's really disappointing is all the signs are Brian Cowen has no intention of asking them to reconsider continuing with ratification," she said.
"While he may not be saying publicly 'go ahead and isolate us', he is ensuring what he doesn't want to happen, happens," she said.
Ms McDonald said she would support a new European Union reform treaty if it contained cast iron guarantees on concerns such as preserving neutrality. The Lisbon Treaty was "over", but another deal was possible, she said.
- Fionnan Sheahan Political Editor in Brussels
