EU treaty referendum to be held next year

THE new EU Treaty will be put to the Irish people in a referendum next year, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said following its agreement at the weekend.

The deal was finally done in the early hours of Saturday following a tense and occasionally ill-tempered summit in Brussels.

If agreed by every member state, it will give the union a full-time president, a foreign minister, rotating commissioners, more power to eurozone finance ministers and more decisions made jointly by the Council of Ministers representing member states of the European Parliament from 2009.

In a compromise demanded by the Poles, new voting weights for the member states will be delayed until after 2014 to ensure large countries like Germany cannot outvote poorer countries receiving EU funds.

Some of the changes are essential to allow the institutions to cope with an enlarged EU of 27-plus members while others are necessary to unblock legal quagmires resulting from previous unworkable compromises in the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties.

It is hoped the reform treaty will be ratified by every member state before the European Parliament elections in mid-2009.

“The referendum will have to be prior to that, in 2008”, said the Taoiseach, adding he was confident it would pass in Ireland.

He was looking forward to having his government partners, the Greens, campaign for the treaty. They have previously been in the “no” camp on EU treaties.

He defended the constitution that he played an essential role in brokering as EU president in 2004. “The way we left this three years ago was far better and all the changes that we have made are for the worse. Thankfully they have not changed any of the substance.”

While Ireland cautioned against calling the original draft a constitution and including references to a flag, anthem and motto that could be seen as the trappings of state, Mr Ahern did not believe their removal was necessary now. “You will not see me get up on any butter-box saying we had removed the flag and Beethoven but, at least, we have put in things like climate change and energy that are essential.”