Policy Research Media Morhamburn

There have been few EU-related discussions of late that haven’t mentioned the “I” word – this of course being the Irish. Only an industrial-strength bubble would have prevented permeation. Ireland failed to ratify the Lisbon Treaty, the new blueprint for streamlining EU decision-making procedures and bestowing additional legislative powers on the European Parliament. For Ireland, such a referendum is a constitutional requirement, the second vote is imminent.

In October 2nd, many commentators see parallels with Nice – this isn’t the first time after all that Ireland has said no thanks (initially) to an EU treaty proposing major reform. For many the central issue is whether like Nice the Irish will say ‘oui, oui’ on the 2nd. The current European climate is a very different one from that at the time of Nice or even the previous Lisbon vote – Ireland is no longer the great economic Celtic Tiger it was; the first Lisbon vote was characterised by a not an insignificant element of misrepresentation on key issues for the Irish, coupled with a general lack of information circulating in the public domain. Some commentators focus on how the Irish will vote; but occurrences like this hold a different interest for me.

One thing that always strikes me when instances like this occur is how diverse the member states are. Ireland gets to have its say whilst the citizens of other member states, the UK for example, do not have such an opportunity. The EU is composed of 27 democratic nations but each is unique. Democracy in one country allows its citizens a referendum, democracy in another does not. An episode like this one therefore does make you stop and ponder how the EU project has managed to get so far with such a diverse mix of visions, reactions, national institutional structures and state character.

Ireland will more than likely vote ‘yes’ on 2nd but even an Irish ‘no’ is unlikely to seriously damage the project. The financial crisis, global warming and even globalisation whilst on the one hand have provided their own fair share of headaches for the EU (and I’m thinking in particular here for the Commission) have also underlined and reinforced that the EU, now more so than ever in the past 20 years, has a valid and vibrant raison d’être.

The nation state and its ability to voice its approval or dissent is key for strong European democracy and should never be underestimated or rubbed away; and the EU in return forces the member states to look towards a bigger picture, the one that we should all be working towards, the right course of action not the easy one or the narrowly beneficial one.

With that said though, current proceedings in the German Constitutional Court may suggest otherwise and the largest stumbling block to the new blueprint may not be the one that is currently foremost in many minds.