British High Court: EU referendum an "arguable case"

A millionaire businessman and major donor for the Conservative party is challenging British PM Gordon Brown for not giving the UK the possibility to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

Stuart Wheeler, 73, won on May 2 his battle to challenge the government's decision after it had promised a referendum on the EU constitution.

He claimed that there was no material difference between the late constitution and the reformed treaty and therefore the government should keep its promise to hold a referendum.

He said in his website:"The Labour Party, as well as the other two main parties, made an unambiguous promise that they would call one. They should keep that promise. The Treaty is immensely important and so, irrespective of whether people think it should be ratified or not, they should be allowed a vote on it."

In his judgement at the High Court Mr Justice Owen decided that permission to apply for judicial review should be granted because the case is "arguable". The hearing will take place on 9 and 10 June.

Since last December, the Labour government insisted that the Lisbon Treaty is not the same as the Constitutional Treaty. In the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website (FCO), it stated that "EU’s 27 leaders have agreed that the constitutional concept has been abandoned."

It said: "There are substantial differences between the two Treaties, in form and in content. The Constitutional Treaty would have replaced all the existing Treaties and effectively re-founded the EU. The Lisbon Treaty takes the same approach as all previous amending Treaties. It amends the existing Treaties which Parliament has ratified and will not have constitutional characteristics."

An "impartial" website for the Irish ahead of June referendum

Irish voters now have one additional instrument to make up their mind ahead of the June referendum that will decide whether Ireland will approve or reject the Reform Treaty.

A new website, http://www.lisbontreaty2008.ie/, was launched on April 20 by an independent body, the Referendum Commission, to ensure that voters are "informed about the issues involved in the forthcoming referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon 2008."

The website says that "others will argue for a Yes or a No vote, but the Referendum Commission's role is to do neither". Its aim, as in every other referendum that Ireland has held in the past years, is to explain what this referendum is about and to encourage people to vote.

On April 28, the chairman of the Referendum Commission, Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill, said in a press conference: "Already, there has been considerable public discussion of the Lisbon Treaty, with people on both sides of the debate making their arguments. Many people say there is confusion over what the Treaty would actually do."

He said that in the midst of "heated exchanges", the Referendum Commission would give "an independent, neutral and clear interpretation of what people are being asked to vote upon."

The new website explains in five pages what the 300-page Treaty is about, how the European Union functions at present and how its activities will change if the Treaty comes into force.

It also explains who is entitled to vote, how to register and what to do before the vote.

In May, 2 million copies of the Refrendum Commission's handbook will be distributed to to all voting households, explaining the main issues in just 14 pages.

Irish minister says Treaty would secure taxation and neutrality

Ireland will not have its neutrality and tax sovereignty affected if it ratifies the Lisbon Treaty, Irish foreign minister Dermot Ahern TD said on April 17.

Speaking at the Forum on Europe, Mr Ahern welcomed the EU Commission president Jose' Manuel Barroso’s visit to Dublin and said that the Irish national interest would indeed be secured by the Treaty.

He said: “We believe that the Reform Treaty sets up the Union to continue to take the interests of all Member States - large and small - into account.”

“It recognises our common interests while at the same time respecting vital individual national interests, such as taxation and defence in our case, where decisions can only be taken by unanimity.”

His party, Fianna Fail, the largest in Ireland and currently part of the coalition government, is leading the campaign for a Yes vote.

But Patricia McKenna of the People’s Movement, which campaigns against any measures that further develop EU integration, called his statement “false and misleading” and said that Barroso’s visit was a “gross interference by the EU institutions in Ireland’s internal affairs”.

She said: “The visit is not only inappropriate, but clearly designed to give Irish voters a false sense of security in relation to this issue of taxation and the comments by the Commission president are clearly stage managed by PM Bertie Ahern, to reduce concern on one of the most significant aspects of public concern on the Lisbon Treaty.”

The Lisbon Treaty extends qualified majority voting to new policy areas and requires less unanimity votes on issues such as fighting climate change, energy security and emergency humanitarian aid to hot-spots around the globe .

However, unanimity will be retained in areas including tax, foreign policy, defence and social security.

10,000 farmers protest as Barroso visits Dublin

Some 10,000 farmers protested in Dublin on April 17, during the visit of EU Commission President Jose' Manuel Barroso, who was in Ireland to promote the EU treaty.

Farmers intended to mark their opposition to EU Commission plans that could penalise Irish agriculture, and namely the policies of EU Commissioner for trade Peter Mandelson.

Worrying about a falling support for the Treaty showed in a recent poll, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern urged farmers to vote Yes during the June referendum.

He said: "It would be a disaster for this country not to pass it. It would have repercussions that would severely damage us, and the biggest beneficiaries are the agricultural community and they should be the ones leading this campaign for it."

The Irish Farmer Association (IFA) President Padraig Walshe addressing the protest said that Mandelson's plans would destroy the Irish beef industry and put 50,000 farmers out of business.

He said: "The Lisbon Treaty Referendum is on the 12th of June, but for farmers, the referendum decision comes on the 20th of May. That's the date Mandelson will be in Geneva and he has a decision to make."

"If the sell out goes ahead on the 20th May in Geneva, then I will not ask farmers to support a Commission that has destroyed the future of our farming and food industry. That is my clear message to President Barroso."

In January Walshe had recommended a YES vote.

During his speech on April 18 at the University of Cork, Mr Barroso implicitly responded when he said that Ireland would be able to preserve its economic model if it backed the Treaty.

He said: "Agriculture will be part of the modernization agenda of the Union. We will build a European agriculture for the future, which respects the social and economic well-being of the farmers; guarantees the right of Europeans to have quality food; and maintains a prosperous rural life, with strong rural communities and an efficient and working rural economy, which is a core part of the European way of living."

Merkel to promote Treaty in Ireland, as voters remain undecided

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was in Dublin on April 14 to discuss the benefits of the Lisbon Treaty, shortly after a national poll had showed that 60 percent of Irish voters are still undecided about whether they will back the paper, which was signed in Lisbon last December.

According to a poll published last week by the Irish Sun, which surveyed about 1,000 Irish people, 28 percent said they would vote in favour, 12 opposed it. Only 6 percent declared they fully understood the changes that the Treaty would bring, whereas 40 percent said they had little undestanding and 25 percent no understanding at all.

Chancellor Merkel, speaking in Dublin, encouraged the voters to approve the Treaty, saying that it would be beneficial "even to sceptics". She assured that there would be no superstate in Europe, and that the new rules were to benefit Europe as a whole, but Ireland and individual states as well.

Irish PM Bertie Ahern, who will leave his post in May to fight allegations of financial irregularities, has backed the Treaty and assured that his country will gain from it. His successor next month has pledged to continue to highlight the benefits of a "yes" vote before the June referendum.

Speaking last week before Merkel's arrival, and ahead of Commission President Barroso's visit to Ireland on April 17, Ahern said: "The number, and stature, of our European visitors this week and next is testimony to our standing in Europe. (...) It is a good time to be Irish. And it is a great time to be an Irish European."

Most politicians support the Treaty, although some organisations are campaigning vigorously against it. One of them, Libertas, speaking about Merkel's and Barroso's visits, has denounced a "foreign interference".

Libertas Chairman Declan Ganley said that their visit "intended to boost support for the Lisbon Treaty" and would be conducted in the "most message-controlled manner possible".Ireland will be the only EU member state to have a referendum on the Treaty, which in the intentions of its makers should simplify the functioning of the EU institutions.

British MPs reject referendum on Lisbon Treaty

The UK Parliament on March 5 turned down the Tories’ attempt to hold a referendum on the Lisbon treaty, which substituted the EU constitution after French and Dutch voters rejected it in national referenda in 2005.

With a narrow majority of 311 votes against 248, MPs rejected the amendment to the EU treaty Bill and decided that the new treaty will instead be ratified through parliamentary vote.

The debate on the treaty has flamed UK parliamentary works for the last months, and a growing pressure has been mounted on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to hold a referendum after he signed the treaty in Lisbon last December.

David Cameron, the Tory leader, accused Mr Brown of breaking the promise his government made in 2005 that British citizens would be given the chance to have their say on the EU constitution.

But Mr Brown denied that. He said that the new treaty may not be compared to the late constitution and a referendum wasn’t needed any longer, as the UK government had already assured Britain opt-outs in vital areas and national sovereignty would not be put at risk.

Yesterday’s vote, however, showed how divisive the issue still is among British MPs. 29 Labour MPs voted in favour of the amendment, while three Tories said they were against a referendum.

Among Liberal Democrats, despite their leader Nick Clegg ordered to abstain from a vote, several voted in favour of a referendum and three frontbenchers resigned.

The treaty is now expected to be ratified by next summer.

What are the main changes of the Lisbon Treaty

The Lisbon Treaty will change how the EU works. It needs to be ratified by all member states to come into force. Ireland is the only country having a referendum.

Here is a short summary of the main changes:

- it amends existing Treaties to work more effectively in an enlarged EU of 27 states;

- it creates a permanent President of the Council (2,5 years renewable once, instead of the current 6-month rotation) giving greater continuity to the EU policies. Britain's former PM Tony Blair was one of the candidates, although some countries oppose this;

- it creates a High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (merging the existing posts of external relations Commissioner and High Representative for common foreign and security policy). Some argue this is the same post as the European Foreign Minister that had been rejected in the EU Constitution by French and Dutch voters in 2005;

- it reduces the size of the Commission from 27 to 15 (no longer one Commissioner for each country, in a move intended to make the Commission work more effectively). Some coutries are afraid that losing for one term their Commissioner will give them some disadvantages.

- it reduces the number of MEPs to 751;

- it increases areas where MEPs have their saying to approve EU legislation alongside national Ministers in the Council (known as codecision);

- it gives national parliaments a bigger saying in the making of the EU legislation. If one third disagrees with the Commission's proposal, this is sent back for revision (yellow card). If the majority of parliaments is against, it can be rejected (orange card). Some argue that these provisions are not enough to involve national parliaments in the EU legislative process;

- it simplifies rules on enhanced cooperation, giving EU countries the opportunity to work more closely on certain issues, without affecting other EU countries which do no want to do so;

- it incorporates the Charter of Fundamental Rights into EU law, so that EU institutions respect those rights. However the Charter doesn’t extend the powers of EU institutions and the UK has an opt-out on this part;

- the Qualified Majority Voting system will be extended in many new areas (immigration, police cooperation, climate channge, but NOT in foreign policy, tax and defence, where unanimity is needed) ;

- there will be a new system for voting, called Double Majority Voting (55 per cent of member states representing 65 per cent of EU legislation) which will begin in 2014.