Crunch time

Three million voters in Ireland went to the polls on Friday to vote on the future of the European Union's charter, more than a year after they decisively rejected it in a referendum. Ireland is the only EU country constitutionally obliged to put the treaty to a vote.

The treaty, aimed at speeding up and simplifying decision-making by introducing a long-term president and a stronger foreign policy chief in the enlarged bloc, cannot take effect unless all the member states ratify it.

"An important day for the country"

Ahead of the crunch vote, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen, who could lose his job if he presides over another rejection of the treaty, urged voters to go to the polls.

"It is an important day for the country and an important referendum... I'd ask everybody, we all have rights as citizens, and one of the rights that should be cherished is our right to vote," he said.

Official resulsts are not expected until early Saturday afternoon.

Opinion polls suggested that this time around Ireland will approve the Lisbon Treaty, breaking the political deadlock in the 27-member bloc and paving the way for the overhaul of EU institutions.

The final opinion poll before the vote, in the Sunday Business Post newspaper, had put support for the treaty at 55 percent, with 27 percent planning to vote against it.

In June last year, 53.4 percent of Irish voters rejected the treaty in a vote that stunned the bloc and plunged it into crisis.

Fears of rejection remain

A second rejection would severely delay EU integration and further enlargement, as both France and Germany have said expansion cannot take place if the charter is not in force.

Cowen warned that another rejection would marginalize Ireland in Europe, scare off foreign investors and damage its attempts to reverse one of the deepest recessions in the western world.

Writing in the Irish Sun newspaper, Cowen said the Lisbon Treaty was needed "to build a positive future for Ireland."

The referendum was held amid fears that voters might use the vote to express their frustration over how Cowen's government dealt with the global financial downturn, and the dramatic collapse of Ireland's booming economy. Ireland has seen several demonstrations and protest marches as discontent grows over the worsening slump.

This year, Ireland's gross domestic product is set to shrink a record eight percent, while the jobless total could exceed 15 percent – three times the level at the time the last referendum was held.

"No" camp warns of loss of Irish sovereignty

All of Ireland's major parties campaigned for a "Yes" vote except the nationalist Sinn Fein.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said voters should reject the treaty to ensure that decisions about Ireland's future would not be handed over to an EU elite.

"We want to have decency and accountability, and if we want a social Europe, then come out and vote 'No'," Adams said in the run-up to the vote.

The "No" camp has argued that agreeing to the treaty would spell an end to Irish sovereignty and force the country to accept decisions it did not support, such as Europe's pro-abortion policies. It also warns that Ireland would lose its military neutrality. Meanwhile, Irish trade unions say the treaty does not adequately protect workers' rights.

Poland and the Czech Republic are the only other EU members yet to ratify the Lisbon Treaty.

It's expected that an Irish "Yes" would put pressure on eurosceptic presidents in Poland and the Czech Republic to sign it into law.


sp/rb/Reuters/dpa/AP
Editor: Andreas Illmer