Ireland Rejects EU Treaty

Irish voters Friday soundly defeated the European Union treaty but the president of the European Commission said other member states should ratify the document.

More than half if Ireland’s 43 constituencies rejected the bloc’s Lisbon treaty on institutional reforms, defeating it 53.4 percent to 46.6 percent, the Financial Times reported.

The treaty is alive, and we should continue, EC President Jose Manuel Barosso insisted.

The treaty, officially called the Lisbon Treaty, needs the approval of all 27 EU members to take effect. Of all the member countries, only Ireland requires a popular vote.

Call it hubris, a pro-treaty Irish leader told The Times of London. People seem to have forgotten what Ireland was like before we received European funding. They seem to think that we created our success all by ourselves. They are wrong.

Declan Ganley, organizer of Libertas, which opposes the treaty, said its defeat gives Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen a mandate to go back to Brussels and build a better deal. I have faith in him that he will do that.

A no vote means the EU would operate under present rules. In practical terms, leaders would have to decide whether to draw up another constitution or ask the Irish people to vote again, CNN said.