Another problem popped up today for the Lisbon Treaty; the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski (of the extreme right wing Law and Justice party), may not sign the Lisbon treaty. One of his aids said that due to the rejection of the treaty by one member state, there cannot be ratification. The president has never been a proponent of the treaty. SLD party leader Wojciech Olejniczak called president Kaczynski “opportunistic”. Ratification in the United Kingdom has stalled as well after a legal challenge by a eurosceptic millionaire.
Poland is emerging as another potential problem for Lisbon Treaty ratification, with the office of the president - who has yet to sign off on the document - beginning to publicly argue that the EU pact is dead following the Irish No.
“There are a lot of indications that…the Lisbon Treaty today doesn’t exist in a legal sense because one of the [EU] countries rejected its ratification,” presidential aide Michal Kaminski told Poland’s Radio ZET on Sunday (22 June).
The EU constitution “ended its life” after the French and Dutch referendums in 2005 he added, with conservative MP Przemyslaw Gosiewski - from the president’s Law and Justice party - taking the same line on the radio talk-show.
“In my opinion - as a lawyer - we have the same situation as after Holland and France…the rules on ratification of the [Lisbon] treaty unequivocally say that after the Irish rejection, it has not been ratified,” he explained.
Read the full article here.
Administrator @ June 23, 2008
French president Nicolas Sarkozy warned that further EU expansion was impossible without ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. The treaty is meant to streamline EU operations, and give the EU a bigger, more united, voice on the world stage. Irish voters rejected the treaty, with a large percentage admitting they do not know what exactly the treaty consists of. Ireland is the only EU country holding a referendum. 18 nations have so far ratified the Lisbon Treaty. The treaty requires unanimous support by all EU members. President Sarkozy will be travelling to Ireland during the French presidency of the European Union next month.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said the European Union will not be able to expand further without ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.
An EU summit in Brussels has exposed divisions over how to proceed with the reform treaty - which was rejected by Irish voters in a referendum last week.
A decision on what to do next is expected to be postponed until October.
The leaders are now expected to discuss
Zimbabwe. A draft statement threatens increasing EU sanctions on the country.
Wrong signal
Mr Sarkozy’s comments about EU expansion came after clear divisions emerged over the future of the treaty and the meeting decided that the Irish should report back in October on possible ways out of the impasse.
Read more.
Administrator @ June 20, 2008
Damage control is on the minds of most European governments after Irish voters rejected a European Union treaty that is meant to streamline decision making and give the EU a more robust foreign policy. Ireland is the only EU member state holding a referendum on the treaty. 18 other member states have already ratified the treaty by parliament. The treaty has to be approved by all 27 members for it to become active. EU foreign ministers are meeting in Luxembourg to discuss the referendum result.
European Union foreign ministers are gathering in Luxembourg for talks on how to respond to the Irish rejection of the Lisbon reform treaty.
Voters in the Irish Republic, the only state to hold a referendum on Lisbon, rejected the treaty by 53.4% to 46.6% last Thursday.
The treaty cannot be implemented unless approved by all 27 EU states.
But the majority of EU members agree that those who have yet to ratify the treaty should carry on and do so.
Administrator @ June 16, 2008