Irish referendum aftermath - Gerry Adams comments

Europe looks to Czech Republic, Poland after Ireland approves Lisbon Treaty

Article published on the 2009-10-04 Latest update 2009-10-04 15:17 TU

Celebrating outside Dublin Castle after the Lisbon treaty referendum, 3 October 2009
(Photo: Reuters)

European leaders welcomed the Irish approval of the Lisbon Treaty, which would streamline how the 27-member group of countries is run. Attention is now being turned to the Czech Republic and Poland, whose leaders have not yet ratified the treaty. In Ireland, the ‘no’ campaigners are looking at what went wrong for them.

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen said it was a "good day for Ireland and... a good day for Europe", and European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said the vote is a "sign of confidence".

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Poland and the Czech Republic need to ratify the treaty quickly, so that it can be put in place quickly.

"France wants the states which have not yet done so, to finish the ratification procedure as quickly as possible so that the Lisbon Treaty can be implemented before the end of the year,” he said in a statement.

Poland's euro-sceptic President Lech Kaczynski has said he would sign the treaty if Ireland voted yes. He has not yet made any comment, but Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he hoped Kaczynski would sign it soon.

The Czech senate approved the treaty, but President Vaclav Klaus, who has been against the treaty, cannot ratify it until the constitutional court rules on whether or not it breaches the Czech constitution. This could take several weeks.

In Britain, the opposition Conservatives say that if the Lisbon Treaty has not been put into effect by next year, and if they win the national election, they will hold a referendum.

"I think people in this country will be frustrated and angry that Ireland has been able to vote twice on a treaty that changes the way we're governed and yet we haven't been able to vote once,” said Conservative leader David Cameron Sunday.

The treaty was approved by parliament in July 2007, but was not put to a public vote.

In Ireland, No campaigners are examining what went wrong. Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, one of the only significant political parties to come out against the treaty, said the vote was about more than the European Union.

“We think that the economic situation here was exploited in a really opportunistic way by the political establishment,” he told RFI.

“The profound issues which underpin concerns about transparency, democracy, accountability within the European Union, and the huge issues of social and economic inequality in Ireland, will not be dealt with by today’s vote.”

He said that the Yes campaign used scare tactics by saying if Ireland voted against the treaty, it would be treated as a provincial backwater.

“They did that in a very, very ruthless and relentless way,” he said. “This was never about a place in the European Union, that’s set.”