MEPs slam Ireland for delaying Treaty solution[fr][de] 

EPP-ED MEPs Íñigo Mendez de Vigo (Spain) and Elmar Brok (Germany) told journalists in Brussels that their fears had grown" since a recent visit of Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin to the European Parliament (EurActiv 07/10/08 ). 

They explained that according to Martin's statements, Ireland was retracting from a previous commitment to come up with proposals for a solution following the Irish 'no' in the 12 June referendum. As Martin reportedly said, at the 15 October EU summit, the Irish prime minister would only present a picture of "how the situation looks". The 17 July EU Council Conclusions , however, stipulate that Ireland would consider "the way forward" at the 15 October summit. 

"Our fear is that there will be no [proposal for] solutions on how to solve the question, as they promised back in June. It would only be in December that they would propose an outcome to the situation […] Then our fear is that it would be too late for the Lisbon Treaty to be enforced before the European elections," said Mendez de Vigo. 

"Time is against us," the Spanish MEP added, saying that in a time of crisis Europe needed the Lisbon Treaty institutions as quickly as possible. He also expressed fears that this would mean that the Lisbon Treaty would become the battleground of the European elections, preventing the real issues of importance to citizens from featuring at the centre of the campaign. 

The UK risk 

Elmar Brok also underlined a potential change in the political situation in the UK, where there is a chance that the Conservatives, which are also part of EPP-ED, will come to power and refuse to ratify the Lisbon Treaty (EurActiv 30/09/08). 

"I believe that in the next ten years in Britain, no ratification is possible. Not anything of major change. If we don't get this, we get nothing," Brok said. 

Both MEPs were optimistic regarding the ratification in the Czech Republic and getting the president of Poland to sign the ratification. Although they saw the need to investigate "the basis on which the 'no' campaign was run" (EurActiv 26/09/08), they made it clear that this was "not the main important question". 

Open to changes 

The MEPs indicated flexibility as regards adding declarations to the Lisbon Treaty to address whatever concerns the Irish might have, but made it plain that they were against renegotiating the treaty. 

Answering a question by EurActiv, Elmar Brok indicated that the EU Council might decide to keep the current system of one commissioner per country. A recent survey showed that many Irish had voted against the Lisbon Treaty over fears that the country may lose its commissioner (EurActiv 10/09/08). Such a decision would not require the reopening of the Lisbon Treaty, Brok said.