Ireland after Lisbon Treaty vote

Most of the Irish web discussions I have seen after the no vote on the Lisbon Treaty have, understandably, centred of internal reasons for no and yes ballots, or on the roles of different players on the national scene.

In Jurist, the alert web publication of the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Law, Dr Laurent Pech of the National University of Ireland, Galway, offers a summary and an evaluation of the three most influential reasons for rejection put forward by Irish critics of the Treaty of Lisbon.

The guest column is called ‘After Ireland’s ‘No’: Long Live the EU Lisbon Treaty?’, and it is available at:

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2008/06/after-irelands-no-long-live-lisbon.php

But Pech offers enough of a European perspective to give food for thought concerning Ireland’s position in the real or outside world. He goes on to analyse the potential consequences for Ireland after the no vote, based on various options left to the other European states: limited reforms based on the Treaty of Nice, starting from scratch to negotiate a new treaty and continuing the ratification process.

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Has Ireland played itself off-side? Does Ireland want to re-enter the play? How could it be done?


Ralf Grahn

Lisbon Treaty: Irish legal concerns

There are few legal instruments available to dispel disenchantment, myths or various individual worries, especially when many of them are outside the scope of the treaty (or any conceivable replacement).

In spite of this conclusion in my previous post, I believe that there is a need for deliberation if we want our societies to prosper. Therefore, Irish concerns pertaining to questions common to the Constitutional Treaty and the Lisbon Treaty merit study despite the referendum outcome. Some are peculiar to Ireland or more prominent there than elsewhere, but many of them have a bearing on Europeans in general, not least because of common themes and borderless misconceptions diffused by electronic means.

Laurent Pech has written the National Report for Ireland on the subject: Preparing the European Union for the Future? Necessary Revisions of Primary Law after the non-ratification of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. (23rd FIDE Congress in Linz, 28–31 May 2008)

People interested in politics and law can be recommended to read the clearly written 24 page report. It has been published as a working paper, which can be downloaded from:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1123935#PaperDownload.

At the time of writing, the author expected to produce a final version in June 2008.

Laurent Pech has written a newly published book with a long perspective on the evolving European treaties:

The European Union and its Constitution: From Rome to Lisbon (Clarus Press, March 2008; 45 €).

For more information, see:

http://www.claruspress.ie



Ralf Grahn