EU draw up Plan B to offset No vote

ALTERNATIVE plans are being worked on by legal experts to allow EU enlargement go ahead, even if the Irish vote No in the Nice Referendum, the Polish President admitted last night.

President Aleksander Kwasniewski became the first head of state to admit that an alternative or Plan B was being actively pursued to allow enlargement to go ahead in the event of an Irish veto.

His comments have added significance because the European Commission was yesterday forced to deny that they were devising a plan to allow enlargement to go ahead even if Ireland votes No. The Commission denied newspaper reports that Brussels officials would seek a Dáil declaration that Ireland is not opposed to enlargement in the event of a No vote, but President Kwasniewski admitted a Plan B was being prepared.

A number of possible solutions were being looked at by lawyers though no single one had been selected yet, he said: “There is quite a set of complicated legal solutions being looked at by experts but we do not want to say any more about them because we do not want to have a self-fulfilling prophesy. Voting day, October 19 is very close and we need to be looking for further arguments that will convince the Irish to make a positive response.”

He was reluctant to spell out what the alternatives might involve but said: “You do not need to look into all the possible alternatives but you do want to have an alternative.”

He added that whatever the alternative, “it will not be a happy one.” He appealed to Irish voters to look further than domestic politics and not to hinder the entry of almost 100 million people into the EU. Candidate countries have been privately warned that a No vote in Ireland could lead to a two-year delay while the legal complications were cleared up. Mr Kwasniewski warned that a No vote would have an effect on the strength of the eurosceptics in the Polish parliament: “We will not change our desire to accede to the EU to become members but it would lead to many political complications and the voice of Ireland would influence the position taken by the eurosceptics in parliament.”

In a plea to Irish people he said: “Please look further than your borders and do not take this decision on the grounds of egotistical interest.”

Other candidate countries are worried that any delay in the present timetable could increase the No camp and dampen the public’s interest in the EU. Many feel they have been promised entry too often just to have it delayed by another few years each time.

If the Nice Treaty is passed, the ten countries will be formally asked to join a summit of EU leaders in Copenhagen in December.