European leaders on Thursday night sought to revive the ill-fated Lisbon Treaty by delivering pledges shoring up Irish independence in the hope of securing a “yes” vote in an Irish referendum in October.
But Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen told a summit of 27 government chiefs in Brussels that he would not win the referendum, expected on Oct. 2, unless the “guarantees” were legally enshrined in a new protocol that could cause problems for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other European leaders by reigniting old feuds over the treaty.
In June last year, the Irish derailed the Lisbon project by rejecting the treaty in a referendum. The rest of the EU has agreed to assure Ireland that the new regime will not affect Irish military neutrality, abortion laws, taxation policy and the Irish are also guaranteed a seat in the European Commission.
The summit planned to issue a “legally binding” declaration on the promises to the Irish, on the assumption that they vote yes to the treaty which would then come into force next January.
But Cowen told the European leaders bluntly that this was not good enough.
“I need to be able to come out of our meeting and state, without fear of contradiction, that the legal guarantees will acquire full treaty status by way of a protocol,” he said. “I want to emphasize sincerely that this is necessary if I am to call and win a second referendum.”
Leaders had expected to resolve the Irish issue early last night at the beginning of the summit. But the differences and the implications of the Irish demands saw the attempt to hatch a compromise drag on overnight.
With the Conservatives the fiercest opponents in Europe of the Lisbon treaty, Brown’s paramount aim is to avoid any changes to the document that might see it returned to the House of Commons.
“The issue for us is you don’t want to be in a position to re-ratify Lisbon,” Brown said.
The chances are that the dispute will turn out to be a minor upset. If the Irish vote yes and Lisbon is put into effect in January, the wrangling will subside and be forgotten.
The Irish dilemma aside, the leaders were also expected to support Jose Manuel Barroso, the center-right former Portuguese prime minister, for a second five-year term as head of the European Commission.
BLOODSHED: North Koreans take extreme measures to avoid being taken prisoner and sometimes execute their own forces, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday said that Russian and North Korean forces sustained heavy losses in fighting in Russia’s southern Kursk region. Ukrainian and Western assessments say that about 11,000 North Korean troops are deployed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces occupy swathes of territory after staging a mass cross-border incursion in August last year. In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy quoted a report from Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi as saying that the battles had taken place near the village of Makhnovka, not far from the Ukrainian border. “In battles yesterday and today near just one village, Makhnovka,
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland on Tuesday expressed concern about “the political crisis” in Georgia, two days after Mikheil Kavelashvili was formally inaugurated as president of the South Caucasus nation, cementing the ruling party’s grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia. “We strongly condemn last week’s violence against peaceful protesters, media and opposition leaders, and recall Georgian authorities’ responsibility to respect human rights and protect fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to assembly and media freedom,” the three ministers wrote in a joint statement. In reaction
BARRIER BLAME: An aviation expert questioned the location of a solid wall past the end of the runway, saying that it was ‘very bad luck for this particular airplane’ A team of US investigators, including representatives from Boeing, on Tuesday examined the site of a plane crash that killed 179 people in South Korea, while authorities were conducting safety inspections on all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines. All but two of the 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air died in Sunday’s crash. Video showed the aircraft, without its landing gear deployed, crash-landed on its belly and overshoot a runaway at Muan International Airport before it slammed into a barrier and burst into flames. The plane was seen having engine trouble.
REVELRY ON HOLD: Students marched in Belgrade amid New Year’s events, saying that ‘there is nothing to celebrate’ after the train station tragedy killed 15 Thousands of students marched in Belgrade and two other Serbian cities during a New Year’s Eve protest that went into yesterday, demanding accountability over the fatal collapse of a train station roof in November. The incident in the city of Novi Sad occurred on Nov. 1 at a newly renovated train facility, killing 14 people — aged six to 74 — at the scene, while a 15th person died in hospital weeks later. Public outrage over the tragedy has sparked nationwide protests, with many blaming the deaths on corruption and inadequate oversight of construction projects. In Belgrade, university students marched through the capital
RSS