Ireland Passes The Lisbon Treaty, So What Next?

With two-thirds of the Irish turnout voting for the Lisbon Treaty in the 2009 referendum, there are now only two countries which are holding up the ratification process - Poland and the Czech Republic - and both offer different challenges. It is expected that the Poles will just ratify the treaty after the Irish yes vote, but getting the Czech's to approve the legislation is going to be a little more time-consuming, with the country's president, Vaclav Klaus, dead-set against it. But there is also potentially the promised referendum by the UK's opposition leader, David Cameron, if he wins the 2010 general election as expected.

October.04.2009 - George Valentine Corr, Blatant News Editor
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WHERE DO WE SIGN?
Who would have thought that when, in 2005, both the French and Dutch public rejected the 'European Constitution' that we would be sitting here in 2009 with almost all of the European Union's 27 member states having ratified a surprisingly similar piece of legislation. After the first constitution was rejected by the people, the EU then came up with the Lisbon Treaty, and swindled the public out of a vote on it, in most countries. During 2008 in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom it was ratified by votes in parliaments, and in the process, dodging a possible negative public vote in most nations, except Ireland which required a referendum to then take place. I'm not sure what branch of democracy that kind of manoeuvring belongs to, maybe it's a new type? Whatever the case, German and Czech politicians quickly followed suit by deciding it in their parliament's during 2009.

THE HOLD UP'S
This left just the Irish needing a public vote on it, and the Czech's and Poles stalling over localised constitutional issues. Otherwise, this treaty was almost in law just a few short years after the original constitution was rejected by the people of France and Holland, and now that the Irish have had their vote, and have ratified the Lisbon Treaty, it is expected that Poland will immediately also sign the treaty into law, and that just leaves one country with issues on the table. The Czech's are still holding out over possible conflictions between the Lisbon Treaty and their own constitution, so there will probably be a few court cases in the country to clear up any misgivings, and they will feel the full pressure of Brussels to get those minor issues out of the way as soon as is physically possible, so they may be very short court cases indeed.

THE NEXT STEP FOR THE LISBON TREATY
The focus will be on the Czech Republic, so I don't expect them to keep everybody waiting for too long, and with their parliament firmly behind it, the Lisbon Treaty could become European law in a matter of a few months or a year, except if the United Kingdom causes problems. They are the only major stumbling block left because although the Labour government managed to get the bill passed in the House of Commons, next years general election is expected to bring the Conservative Party into government, and their leader David Cameron has previously promised a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty if he gets into power. He is already beginning to become more hazy with that particular promise, but the British public may force him to carry through with it, especially if the UK's Euro-sceptics have anything to do with it. And the fact that Gordon Brown has already broke a promise to the British public to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty will possibly add weight to the cause for a Tory-induced referendum. It's not over yet!

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