Long wait for decision on whether to re-run Lisbon

IRELAND will have to wait until December to find out if the country is likely to face another EU treaty referendum.

But Taoiseach Brian Cowen said that, even if the Union agrees to change the Lisbon treaty, it will not necessarily mean that Irish citizens will vote on it.

At a summit in Brussels last night EU leaders agreed to a string of new rules governing eurozone members’ budgets and spending in future, including stiff fines for countries that refuse to make changes the European Commission says are necessary. However, they threw out a German plan to deprive erring eurozone countries of their voting rights at EU meetings.

“A suspension of voting rights is not a runner,” the Taoiseach said.

However, all agreed to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s demand for a new, permanent system to bail out eurozone countries that get into trouble to replace the temporary facility due to run out in 2013.

The European Commission will be asked to devise a new system while a taskforce of finance ministers under EU president Herman Van Rompuy will look at whether the treaty needs to be changed and how this could be done.

All countries are frightened that just a year after finally getting the Lisbon treaty passed, opening it up would lead to a plethora of problems, including demands for referenda in countries.

Mr Cowen said the Government supports a permanent crisis-resolution mechanism, but whether it would need a referendum was an issue that would have be to decided once the details were known. “I believe that if treaty change is necessary we could do it in a narrow and simplified a way as possible. Having a referendum is not automatic, you can only judge on a case by case basis,” he said.

Dr Merkel had said she needed a change to the “no bailout” clause in the treaty as she fears that the German Constitutional Court will find the current €750 billion fund is contrary to this clause when they rule in the spring on two challenges to the fund.

Mr Cowen said he will work constructively with her and the rest of the EU to find a solution.

Lisbon treaty expert Peadar O’Broin pointed out that the treaty could be changed quickly and easily since the issue involves internal EU policies and does not give the EU new powers. All member states would have to agree to it and ratify it at national level according to their own domestic procedures.

This easy procedure could be used, for instance, if the EU agrees to change the “no bailout” clause to a “bailout” clause, a senior EU source said.

In the meantime British Prime Minister David Cameron surprised member states by changing his demand for a freeze on the EU’s budget to calling for a 2.9% increase, which would be less than the European Parliament’s demand for an increase of up to 5%.