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Ireland Secures Agreement on Lisbon Guarantees : 22nd Jun 09
Ireland Secures Agreement on Lisbon Guarantees,
European leaders have given Ireland the guarantees she sought on the Lisbon Treaty, with a crucial pledge to incorporate them in a future EU treaty. This paves the way for a second referendum on the controversial treaty, most likely in October.
Agreement on the shape of the deal followed an early morning meeting between Taoiseach Brian Cowen and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, at which the latter said the British would no longer block any reference to a future protocol. The Irish guarantees will now be enshrined in a formal declaration of the European Council, which itself has legal force.
The summit of European leaders also agreed to return to the issue to copperfasten the interpretations of the treaty in the next treaty agreed between member-states, likely to be the one providing for Croatian accession in a couple of years.
The specific guarantees, which do not change the Lisbon Treaty but do provide a common interpretation of it, pledge that nothing in the pact will affect Ireland’s constitutional provisions on abortion and the family, her right to determine her own tax regime, or force the state to sign up to European defence co-operation.
A previous summit in December agreed that member-states would also retain their right to an individual commissioner. Friday morning’s deal will represent considerable relief to the Taoiseach, who earlier made clear to fellow leaders in a candid private letter, widely leaked, that he needed the protocol, on top of any legally binding statement, to provide greater legal certainty. He warned that the media had already made the character of the legal guarantee an issue and reminded them that French president Nicolas Sarkozy had promised a protocol.
The government is expected to publish the details of legislation on a referendum commission this week. The Irish Times. June 19, June 20. CLICK TO READ MORE.....
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