The guarantees granted to Ireland (available here in full) were agreed in principle at an EU summit in December last year (EurActiv 12/12/08), and notably provide for legally binding pledges in the areas of taxation, neutrality and abortion. These sensitive issues were instrumental in the Irish 'no' vote a year ago.
The text specifies that nothing in the Lisbon Treaty will affect current EU rules on taxation: Ireland has the EU's lowest corporation tax rate, and alongside the UK has been a long-time bête noire of EU attempts to harmonise tax regimes.
The draft also states that the treaty "does not affect or prejudice Ireland's traditional policy of military neutrality," and that it cannot supercede an Irish constitutional ban on abortion.
A high-ranking Irish government official, speaking off-the-record to EurActiv from Luxembourg, said he was confident EU leaders would approve of the draft proposal. As "it was drafted following consultations with all member states, we feel we have a very good sense of where they're coming from, and it meets their needs," he said.
Previous difficulties pertaining to the text's declaration on workers' rights (EurActiv 20/05/09) have been removed, according to the source.
"The problems people alluded to [regarding workers' rights] were probably in advance of having seen the text. Now that the text has been seen, the response everywhere has been quite positive," he said.
However, in a letter to EU leaders, trade unions voiced concerns that the reported changes "fall short".
Moreover, the Irish government source acknowledged that the legally-binding guarantees on taxation, neutrality and abortion "have not been fully resolved," sounding a warning that EU leaders must fulfil their promises to the Irish government.
"I think it's very clear from the December European Council conclusions: we've been promised legally-binding guarantees in three areas, and we've promised another form of guarantee in the area of workers' rights and public services, and I think that's what will emerge at the end of the day."
Acknowledging red herrings?
Beyond the legally-binding guarantees, the draft provides a number of "reassurances" to assuage Irish voters' fears. For example, it specifies that "the Treaty of Lisbon does not provide for the creation of a European army or for conscription to any military formation".
One Irish source contacted by EurActiv, who also did not wish to be named, dismissed this section as "embarrassing". "It acknowledges the red herring" of the Lisbon Treaty leading to the formation of a European army, they said.
However, the government official argued that "these are issues that arose during the referendum campaign, and we want to provide explicit reassurances that fears on these issues do not arise in relation to the Lisbon Treaty".
"I think we're making good and steady progress towards our goal of getting the legally-binding guarantees fully agreed by the European Council," he concluded.
