The Irish Referendum

The Irish electorate rejected the Lisbon treaty by almost 54% yesterday, in spite of a quasi consensus of the political and economic elites in favour of its ratification. This follows the 2005 French and Dutch "noes" to the original constitutional treaty, though for different reasons. Once again, it seems that voters made a choice less on the content of the document than about their national leaders, the economic situation and expressing general fears about the future... But it is a sad paradox that a country which has benefited so much from EU membership turns against it. Less than one per cent of the total EU population has therefore put the whole process in disarray. EU leaders will meet soon in Luxemburg and Brussels to discuss what can be done now. One option would be to remove some parts of the treaty that the Irish electorate disapproved of (but which ones ?) and ask them to vote again, as in 2001, but that would require more negociations and agreement at 27 - not to mention the fact that it would give a bad image of European democracy, and might well backlash with a second "no" vote.
Meanwhile in the UK, Gordon Brown promised to complete the (parliamentary) ratification process, which has reached its final stage: all it needs now is a final vote in the Lords on 18 June and the royal assent. Eurosceptics of all kinds have nevertheless called for an interruption in the ratification process.