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Ireland to hold second treaty vote after summit deal
AFP - Saturday, December 13
BRUSSELS (AFP) - - Ireland agreed to hold a new referendum on the European Union's stalled reform treaty under a deal hammered out at a leaders' summit on Friday.
The plans would see the EU guarantee Ireland a European commissioner's post in exchange for putting the Lisbon Treaty to the people again.
The bloc would also note other concerns of the Irish people, including worries about European interference in Ireland's military neutrality, abortion laws and taxation, which led them to reject the treaty in June.
"Today we have the clear evidence the European Union is ready to respond," Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen told reporters after the two-day summit.
"On the basis of the agreement today, and on condition of our being able to satisfactorily put guarantees in place, I have said that I would be prepared to return to the public, to put a new package and seek their approval of it."
The leaders agreed that all EU countries would retain a commissioner if the Lisbon Treaty enters force, and in exchange Dublin would hold a new referendum by the end of October, when the commission's mandate ends.
It could allow the reform package, meant to streamline the EU as it expands, to enter force by the end of 2009.
"This is excellent news," said French President Nicolas Sarkozy, hosting the last summit of his country's EU presidency, which ends on December 31. "Ireland understands perfectly that it needs Europe."
Its voters, however, sparked a major political crisis in June by rejecting the treaty by 53 percent.
Were they to back the treaty the second time around, it could lead to a streamlining of EU institutions which governments say is vital after the bloc's eastward expansion in recent years.
A second defeat could deal it a fatal blow as all 27 nations must endorse it for the treaty to become law.
The Czech Republic is the only other country still considering the treaty.
Prague takes over the EU's rotating presidency from France on January 1.
Ireland has said that it wants the guarantees to be iron clad, and that experts would be going over the implications of the concessions in the near future.
"There's a lot of detailed work to be carried out in the months ahead," Cowen said.
Reducing the number of policy commissioners was a key treaty innovation.
Under the document as it stands, from 2014 only two-thirds of member states would be allowed to appoint a commissioner. The Irish people feared they might find themselves in the other third.
"Change in the commission arrangements, so that Ireland keeps its commissioner, is hugely significant," Cowen said.
Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Spain voiced opposition to changes at the commission but none blocked the agreement.
"We have to be careful about what could happen with the commission," Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jeaan Asselborn warned.
He said the EU executive arm's "competences will be diluted, and that could be dangerous when it comes to defending small (nations), and Ireland as well."
In Dublin, meanwhile, Irish republican party Sinn Fein slammed the referendum plans.
Sinn Fein's "no" vote campaign director Padraig Mac Lochlainn said the deal was a "sham that not only fails to address the reasons why the people rejected the Treaty but it's a package of proposals that deliberately seeks to sell the Irish people a pup."
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Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen answers questions after the European Council summit in Brussels. Ireland has agreed to hold a new referendum on the European Union's stalled reform treaty under a deal hammered out in Brussels.
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