Русская версия"My personal view is that a referendum is the appropriate response
to the position we are in; this is very much a personal view at
this stage," European Affairs Minister Dick Roche told the
Irish Independent
newspaper on Monday, Aug.
25.
According to the paper, Roche is the first minister to publicly
suggest an eventual rerun after Ireland plunged the EU into crisis
when 53 percent of voters rejected the Lisbon Treaty in a
referendum held in June.
"We have to explore all possible solutions," he said. "We cannot
exclude the possibility that, at some stage, and in the right
circumstances, it may be necessary to consult the people once
again."
Roche expressed concern that otherwise, Ireland might soon find
itself out on a limb.
"If we want to retain our position as a constructive EU member
state, we cannot simply sit on our hands, as some would have us do,
and keep saying that 'no' means 'no,'" he added. "We have to
recognize, however, that all other member states -- 26 sovereign,
democratic parliaments -- are likely to have ratified the treaty by
the end of the year. This will leave Ireland in an isolated
position."
The way ahead
But opponents of the treaty insist that no new vote is necessary,
arguing that it is little more than a slightly altered version of
the previous EU constitution, which was torpedoed by French and
Dutch voters in referendums in 2005.
Prime Minister Brian Cowen is due to travel to Paris next month for
talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who also currently
hold the EU's rotating presidency, on a possible way out of the
crisis that has left the bloc in limbo.
EU leaders are set to discuss the Irish rejection again at an
October summit in an effort to overcome the impasse ahead of
elections next year to the European Parliament.
The role of religion
Bildunterschrift:
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:
Is the secular view the dominant one in the EU?
Meanwhile, the government is awaiting a specially commissioned
analysis of why the people voted against the Lisbon Treaty, due out
next month.
According to Cardinal Sean Brady, the country's most senior Roman
Catholic churchman, the answer may be the EU's perceived hostility
to religion.
Addressing the Humbert summer school in the west of the country on
Sunday, Brady, Primate of All-Ireland, said the referendum result
said, "At least some of those who were previously enthusiastic
about the founding aims of the EU, both social and economic, are
now expressing unease."
"Successive decisions ... have undermined the family based on
marriage, the right to life from the moment of conception, to
natural death, the sacredness of the Sabbath, the right of
Christian institutions to maintain and promote their ethos," he
added. "These and other decisions have made it more difficult for
committed Christians to maintain their instinctive commitment to
the European project."
Social consequences for EU
Brady said that if the European Union chose to ignore the impact
people's faith has on their political decisions it affect the
amount of support the bloc enjoys among the public. According to
AFP, Brady said there was a "fairly widespread culture" in European
affairs of relegating religious convictions to the purely private
sphere.
He said such an approach ends up with Christians being denied the
right to intervene in public debates on issues such as stem-cell
research, the status of same-sex unions, the primacy of the family
based on marriage and the culture of life.
"The prevailing culture and social agenda within the EU would at
least appear to be driven by the secular tradition rather than by
the Christian memory and heritage of the vast majority of member
states."
(Deutsche Welle)
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