Martin confident of getting guarantees for Lisbon vote
Tuesday June 16 2009
TAOISEACH Brian Cowen could announce the precise date for the second Lisbon Treaty referendum this Friday, once the Government gets the legal guarantees it is looking for.
Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin said last night that he was "quietly confident and hopeful" of agreement on guarantees which address the concerns of the Irish people on the Lisbon Treaty.
Mr Martin gave his EU counterparts the seven-page draft wording of what he described as a "binding legal agreement of substance" on taxation, neutrality, abortion and workers' rights. Over the coming days, Mr Martin's officials will try to iron out any problems with the legal guarantees to be agreed ahead of the second Lisbon Treaty referendum. He said the guarantees were about "putting it all beyond doubt".
Essentially, the set of guarantees are a legal statement that:
- Ireland will remain in control of its own tax rates.
- Irish neutrality will not be affected -- no conscription whatsoever, no defence alliances at all.
- Ireland retains control of sensitive ethical issues such as abortion, where the Constitution stands.
- Workers' rights and public services are valued and protected in Ireland and the EU.
Already, EU leaders have said Ireland, and all other member states, will keep a European Commissioner.
Mr Cowen plans to sign off on the legal guarantees at an EU Summit in Brussels on Friday. He may also announce a date, as his EU colleagues want to know the timeframe. The date is expected to be either Thursday, September 24, October 1 or October 8.
Mr Martin wouldn't rule out the date being confirmed at the summit in Brussels. "It's possible," he said.
Concerns
Mr Martin said the draft texts of the guarantees cover the concerns raised last time out. "These are all issues that surfaced during the last Lisbon Treaty campaign," he said.
Mr Martin was in Luxembourg for a meeting of EU foreign ministers yesterday.
"We have had very constructive engagements with the member states. What's coming back is a wish to be helpful," he said.
The final document will come in three parts, outlining the decision, the guarantees themselves, a solemn declaration on workers' rights and social policy and a solemn declaration by Ireland.
If the Lisbon Treaty is approved in the referendum, the guarantees will ultimately form a protocol to be attached to the next available treaty for ratification -- most likely when Croatia joins the EU.
"We are clear in our own minds how we would want to see it pan out," Mr Martin said.
But guarantees on Irish concerns will pave the way for the second vote in the autumn.
Mr Martin said he had no problem at all with EU leaders coming to Ireland ahead of the referendum, even French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "President Sarkozy is always welcome," he said.
But the Eurosceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus elicited a slightly less hospitable response: "He has been to Ireland."
Ahead of the summit, the employers' group IBEC said the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty was now more important than ever. Its Director of European Affairs Brendan Butler said the confusion created by last year's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty "should be of profound concern to anyone who wishes to see Ireland have a strong place in Europe and the world".
- Fionnan Sheahan Political Editor in Luxembourg
