Lisbon to be altered without referendum

THE Lisbon Treaty will have to be amended to pave the way for a permanent eurozone rescue fund but the Government will not hold a referendum on the change.

Following a 1987 Supreme Court judgment, any major changes to the rules governing the EU are required to be put to a referendum in Ireland.

But the Government believes the amendment now being proposed is a minor one that can be ratified by way of Oireachtas approval.

Speaking in Brussels yesterday following the conclusion of the two-day summit of EU leaders, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said that the Government would bring forward a bill to approve the amendment.

“We finalised our arrangements on the changes to the treaty needed to put the (European Stability) Mechanism on a firm, legal footing,” he said.

“Member states will now launch their own individual national procedures to allow that to enter into force on January 1, 2013. That means that in Ireland, we will have to introduce a parliamentary bill and put it through the Houses of the Oireachtas,” Mr Kenny said.

The decision is in keeping with the previous government’s view that no referendum would be required.

However, it is likely to meet with firm protest from some of the opposition, with Sinn Féin particularly insistent that there should be a referendum on the wider EU-IMF bailout.

The amendment to the Lisbon Treaty is required to allow for a permanent eurozone rescue fund.

The existing rescue fund — known as the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and from which Ireland is getting some of its bailout loans — is technically a temporary fund, as EU leaders did not at the time of its establishment have the power under the treaty to make it permanent.

It will be replaced in 2013 by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), and the treaty will be amended to allow the latter to be a permanent rescue fund.

Member states — including Ireland — will make contributions to the ESM on a pro-rata basis.