Roche: If treaty not ratified a third of states will lose commissioner

A THIRD of EU countries will lose their European Commissioner in November if Ireland rejects the Lisbon treaty again, Europe Minister Dick Roche has confirmed.

Mr Roche said if the Lisbon treaty is not ratified the rules of the Nice treaty would apply to the size of the commission.

“It’s a statement of fact that the size of the commission would be 18 and it’s nonsense to say, as some have suggested, that it will be just one less than the number of countries. It would be a substantially smaller commission.”