And Ireland says... Yes!

Prime Minister Brian Cowen gets out the 'vote yes' message in Tullamore. Taken from CNN.


This Friday October 2nd, 2009, Ireland held a vote to decide if they would accept the Lisbon Treaty. Ireland as a country is rather special for doing this, since every other country in the European Union had their parliaments accept the Treaty. But Ireland's Law states that the citizens have a right to vote on any big changes that would change the political structure of the country.

And diverging from last year's 53% of Irish people voting No to the Lisbon Treaty, this year, 67% of Irish people voted Yes in favor of the treaty. This is a huge change for the nation and of course, for Europe.

The Lisbon Treaty entails a lot of changes for the European Union and its member countries, since the Charter of Fundamental Rights, among other things, would become legally binding for all the 27 members of the Union, forcing them to change their actual policies. In the case of the Union itself, new posts, such as a President fo the European Council who would last 2 and a half years on the post, are being created. Some things like are being removed too.

It rests to see if this is a positive or a negative thing. For now, we can congratulate the Irish on the unified front they have presented.

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A little bit more about the Lisbon Treaty

I must say I find it interesting how people spent so much time worrying about Ireland’s second referendum coming this October and that, as polls finally start to show a possible “yes” vote from the Irish, another challenge to the guaranteed unanimous decision over the treaty began to flourish— Czech Republic’s plan to delay their ratification until they see clear results from the Irish, that is.
A group of Czech senators are looking forward to file a complaint against the Lisbon Treaty and they would like the Constitutional Court to revise it and confirm there is no contradiction between the treaty and the constitution of the Czech Republic, backed up by the fear of losing, of course, the republic’s sovereignty (which they claim will be undermined), in order to proceed with the ratification. This process would take time and even moths until the final appeal is given and it looks like President Klaus is not willing to sign the ratification at any moment before he hears the final word from the Constitutional Court. This will unquestionably increase the nervousness of the European leaders and the people who has been waiting for quite some time for a resolution.
And in case Ireland, or Poland or the Czech Republic rejects the treaty… what would happen then? It would be a second failure for the reforms of the European Union. As anxiety grows in Europe, the uncertainty of the European Union’s future prevails and so it will continue if nations do not completely agree on the Lisbon treaty. Is it possible to continue growing as a community in the very same conditions? Maybe it is, but in a slower pace, I believe. But as long as that intense fear of losing power stays alive within the members, there will be no definite approach to a more integrated union.

Information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8281098.stm
http://english.cri.cn/6966/2009/09/30/1221s519599.htm
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/54684
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6841622.ece
http://www.sofiaecho.com/2009/09/28/790844_lisbon-treaty-passes-milestone-in-germany

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