Cowen confident of majority yes to Lisbon

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen said he believed a good majority would support the Lisbon treaty in a second referendum, expected to be held next autumn.

But in the meantime the details of the guarantees and assurances he won from his fellow EU leaders will have to be finalised over the next six months.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy who chaired the summit announced: “Lisbon is relaunched — the Irish will be consulted again” and added: “I would like to tell you how brave the Irish prime minister has been”.

But the Czech vice prime minister, Alexandr Vondra, cautioned that if Ireland voted against the Lisbon treaty a second time, it would lead to a two-speed Europe in which they would be left behind.

Mr Cowen described yesterday’s agreement as “an exercise in democracy” with the EU ready to respond to the issues the Irish people were concerned about when they rejected the treaty, including each country retaining a commissioner.

“The change in the commissioner is hugely significant. We are well on our way to a new package … I would be prepared to return to the public to seek approval of the new package,” he said.

But this is the only issue tied down. Legal experts and diplomats will need to work on the details of the legal guarantees and assurances that were agreed unanimously in principle by all member states.

The legal guarantees, that also apply to all member states, affirm that nothing in the Lisbon treaty extends the Union’s power in the areas of tax, Ireland’s neutrality and the provisions of the Irish Constitution on the right to life, education and the family.

The agreement also acknowledges what it calls the high importance attached to issues including workers’ rights, public services, the country’s responsibility for education and health services and that education and health would not be subject to ordinary commercial policy rules.

Mr Cowen said he would take the process step by step. “I do not see that we would not be in a position to bring a good majority of the people with us”.

He had not thought about a second referendum campaign yet, but he said, “I would agree that if the Lisbon treaty is to be ratified it will have to be a different campaign” to the first one.

He would brief the leaders of the opposition parties on the outcome of the council and said, “This is a national issue of huge importance ... and is over and above national politics”.

Dublin Labour MEP Proinsias De Rossa welcomed the overall commitment to meet Ireland’s requests, but said the details would be watched closely. “The European Parliament will be keen to make sure our positions are not undermined because we had a role in the treaty, and the parliament and national government will want to have some say on the final deal”

Work on the final package continued late into yesterday morning to satisfy British fears that the wording, especially on workers’ rights, might lead to demands for a second vote in the House of Commons on the treaty.

Mr Vondra said that if Ireland rejected the treaty a second time, after all the work to accommodate their concerns, “the temptation of some big European powers on the continent to dynamise the multi-speed Europe would certainly grow. But this is a political question and I will simply wish the Irish good luck”.