Ireland Votes no to the Lisbon Treaty,What Happens Now ?
Last Friday ,as the results came in, I was a little disappointed that Ireland rejected the Lisbon Treaty . But over the weekend as I listened to the various opinions I began to wonder whether the NO vote was such a bad thing after all . What has really struck struck me more than anything has been the total lack of planning by the powers of be for the possibility that this treaty would be defeated by the Irish electorate . Surely in a closely fought contest there was always the possibility that the No’s would win and and a plan should have been put in place for that eventuality .
So we now have a situation where an estimated three million Irish voters look likely to have plunged the European Union, a bloc of nearly 500 million people, into chaos by their rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. Is it our fault that we have expressed our democratic right and rejected this treaty . Regardless whether you were for or against this Treaty ,those people charged for bringing this to a public vote should have prepared for either one of the two outcomes . So when we see reports of the European Union being plunged into chaos ,we should not blame the Irish public but those people who did not consider this out come and who failed to have the plan B ready .
Ireland is the only country in Europe to hold a referendum on the treaty. That’s because in order to accept some of the changes in power from Dublin to Brussels, the Irish Constitution must be changed.
Of course, the treaty’s proponents rightly pointed out that few countries in Europe have benefited from the EU’s largesse more than than Ireland. More than three decades of subsidies from the EU, in part, helped transform Ireland from Europe’s sick man into its most prosperous country. Now Irish supporters of the treaty are rightly worried that their influence in Europe will be badly diminished.
So what’s next? Brian Cowen will have to go to next week’s meeting in Brussels embarrassed that his attempts to convince voters of the treaty’s merits have failed. The bigger impact is, of course, on the credibility and future of the EU itself. But going back to the drawing board will prove difficult as the Lisbon treaty was already the product of years of tortuous negotiations.
In the meantime PREM Group ,like a lot of Irish company’s ,will continue to grow our business throughout Europe .We will continue to work closely with our colleagues in the UK,France and Belgium and look forward to opening Hotels in Germany and the Netherlands in the near future . We will continue to do business while we let our politicians deal with the wishes of the people . Maybe next time they won’t take those wishes for granted .