Interview: ‘Hold second Lisbon vote, with opt-outs’

Ireland should hold a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in October 2009, in which voters should also be given the opportunity to opt-out of some of the more contentious Lisbon provisions, Irish Fine Gael MEP Colm Burke (EPP) told EURACTIV in an interview.

Burke’s proposal effectively makes him the first Irish politician to propose a specific ‘roadmap’ for holding a second Lisbon referendum in Ireland. 

His plan consists of a multi-question referendum to be held in October 2009, allowing Irish citizens to vote on possible opt-outs from the Lisbon Treaty while also holding a second ballot on the text itself. 

The proposal comes amid growing tension and anger among prominent European politicians over Ireland’s failure to provide the EU with concrete proposals on a way forward for Lisbon (see EURACTIV 09/10/08). Indeed, the pressure is on to settle the issue and have the treaty enter into force before the upcoming European elections in June 2009.

But Burke conceded that his proposed timeframe is likely to anger many of his colleagues in the European Parliament, given that “if the [European] elections are held under the Nice Treaty provisions, a number of countries will have fewer seats in the parliament than they would under Lisbon, and that’s a big problem for them”. 

However, he claims that his proposal at least “sets out a clear timeframe”, and adds that countries will have to “resign themselves” to the fact that Ireland is not going to have a referendum before the elections and that they will have to continue operating under Nice.

Burke’s plan to “split the question” for voters is, he says, a reaction to opinion poll results following the June referendum. These indicated that the two “key areas” of concern to Irish voters which resulted in the ‘no’ to Lisbon were “fear of conscription into a European army” and “concerns about the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which many people felt would give too much power to the European Court of Justice”. 

His proposal thus addresses ‘Lisbon II’, while also offering voters opt-outs on the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Common Foreign and Security Policy. The UK and Danish governments have received such opt-outs in the past. 

Burke also wants the term of the current European Commission to be extended until Ireland has resolved the Lisbon dilemma: “There’s no point in putting in a new Commission until we know where we’re going with Lisbon.” 

Responding to a question about the success of the Irish ‘no’ camp, Burke claimed that “the Irish Referendum Commission did not do enough to correct inaccuracies and rebut misinformation” and called for the body to be given “stronger powers to deal with inaccuracies as soon as they emerge”. 

Finally, on the subject of the controversial Libertas organisation, arguably the most vocal and high-profile anti-Lisbon force in the Irish referendum, Burke said: “I can’t comment on where they’re receiving their funding, but I can say this: the idea of the arms trade lobbyists funding 1.2 million towards ensuring a ‘no’ to Lisbon in Ireland is certainly not beyond the bounds of possibility.” 

To read the interview in full, please click here.

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