...Ireland, with a population of 4.2 million rejected a June 12th referendum deciding whether the European Union gets a full-time president and a single, more powerful, foreign policy chief. The voters in the Irish Republic rejected the European Union's Lisbon treaty by a 53.4% to 46.6% margin.
The poll is a major blow to leaders in the 27-nation EU, which has a population of 490 million. The European Union requires all its members to ratify the treaty. To date, only Ireland has held a public vote.
Declan Ganley of Ireland’s anti-treaty lobby group Libertas said: "It is a great day for Irish democracy." He added: "This is democracy in action... and Europe needs to listen to the voice of the people."
The No campaign was a broad coalition ranging from Libertas to Sinn Fein, the only party in parliament to oppose the treaty.
One of the initiatives that appeared to worry Irish voters was the EU's long-standing ambition to harmonize the way in which corporate taxes are levied. Ireland's economic boom was helped by some of the lowest taxes on corporations in the union.
Irish voters were also reluctant to accept the EU’s proposal for broader powers of a proposed new full-time European president, its planned foreign policy chief, and its embryonic diplomatic service.
The European Union's executive currently has offices around the globe that deal with issues like aid and trade. The idea of the Lisbon Treaty was to give all these a bigger role in supporting the new, more powerful foreign policy chief. But critics worried aloud that the union would assume some of the current responsibilities of national governments and that, among other concerns stopped the Lisbon Treaty being passed in Ireland.
The poll is a major blow to leaders in the 27-nation EU, which has a population of 490 million. The European Union requires all its members to ratify the treaty. To date, only Ireland has held a public vote.
Declan Ganley of Ireland’s anti-treaty lobby group Libertas said: "It is a great day for Irish democracy." He added: "This is democracy in action... and Europe needs to listen to the voice of the people."
The No campaign was a broad coalition ranging from Libertas to Sinn Fein, the only party in parliament to oppose the treaty.
One of the initiatives that appeared to worry Irish voters was the EU's long-standing ambition to harmonize the way in which corporate taxes are levied. Ireland's economic boom was helped by some of the lowest taxes on corporations in the union.
Irish voters were also reluctant to accept the EU’s proposal for broader powers of a proposed new full-time European president, its planned foreign policy chief, and its embryonic diplomatic service.
The European Union's executive currently has offices around the globe that deal with issues like aid and trade. The idea of the Lisbon Treaty was to give all these a bigger role in supporting the new, more powerful foreign policy chief. But critics worried aloud that the union would assume some of the current responsibilities of national governments and that, among other concerns stopped the Lisbon Treaty being passed in Ireland.
