A large majority of parliamentarians strongly backed the conclusion of last week's EU summit to move on with the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty despite the Irish 'no', hoping for the process to be finished in time for the next European elections in June 2009. But some criticised EU leaders for a lack of vision on how to move Europe forward.
"The Treaty ratification process must continue." That was the main message of last week's low-key EU summit in Brussels, the last one under the Slovenian EU Presidency before France takes over on 1 July (EurActiv 20/06/08).
MEPs are particularly interested in timely ratification of the reform treaty as it would strengthen the Parliament's powers and re-distribute seats in line with the latest round of EU enlargement in 2007.
European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering welcomed the "strong signal" from the European Council to continue the ratification process, hoping for concrete proposals and a timetable for how to progess to be set at the next summit in October so that the Treaty could still enter into force before the next European elections in June 2009.
This view was mirrored by the two dominant parties, the EPP and the Socialists. The French leader of the Parliament’s centre-right EPP-ED group, Joseph Daul, told EurActiv he was glad to see the EU leaders "united" in their commitment to continue the ratification process. He said his party respected the Irish 'no', but stressed that no single country could speak for the whole EU.
Speaking to EurActiv, the Austrian Vice-Chairman of the PSE group, Hannes Swoboda, said the rescue mission for the Lisbon Treaty was the "first test case" for the incoming French Presidency to work with the Irish on concrete proposals.
However, he saw only a 30%-chance of this being done by October, saying "we have been too optimistic in the past". But the October summit had to "lead the way" on how to move forward at the very least, Swoboda pointed out.
UK MEP and leader of the ALDE group in the European Parliament, Graham Watson, urged European leaders to not take continued support for the EU for granted. "National governments cannot expect support for Treaty changes unless the need for them is properly justified," he said.
Citing Irish poet W.B. Yeats, he declared: "Romantic Europe is dead and gone."
He also called upon the heads of state and government to "take full account of the reasons for the Irish 'no' vote before moving on with the ratification" and "avoid spending the next five years distracted by institutional changes that interest no-one beyond Brussels".
The British ALDE member of the Parliament's Constitutional Affairs Committee, Andrew Duff, welcomed the EU leaders' approach of "pressuring, but not bullying Ireland" to come up with solutions.
The Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, however, was a "collective problem" of all 27 member states, Duff told EurActiv, because a final Irish 'no' would have "clear consequences" for the Union as a whole.
He recommended a dual strategy to eventually gain Irish support for the treaty: on the one hand, the Irish government had to strike a "fresh consensus" among the 'no' camp, while the EU needed to offer something to the Irish, such as guaranteeing sovereignty in certain areas like taxation or defence.
European Greens criticised EU leaders for lacking a vision of how to move on after the Irish 'no', which they say is required to regain the trust and support of EU citizens.
"Remedying this situation with real action and imaginative solutions should be the top priority of the EU's leaders but this summit has shown that this is unfortunately not the case," the Green's co-spokesperson Ulrike Lunacek said.
Focussing on the key issues such as climate change, the energy and food crisis, the EU's global competitiveness or solidarity with the poorest could help regain this trust, argues the other co-spokesperson, Philippe Lamberts.
The EU heads of state and government held their 'crisis summit' one week after the Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. It mainly constituted an exchange of views on how to proceed, with a concrete decision postponed until the summit in October.
Apart from this issue, EU leaders also discussed options to curb the rise of food and oil prices, such as the French proposal to set a VAT cap on petrol, although no concrete action was taken (EurActiv 20/06/08).
