Ireland agreed in principle Thursday to hold a second vote on an accord designed to strengthen the European Union, but opponents promised to try to turn Europe-wide elections next year into a referendum on the way the bloc does business.
EU leaders in Brussels this week (11-12 December) agreed to a series of concessions to allow Dublin to make possible a second vote on the bloc's Lisbon Treaty some time in the course of next year.
These include a guarantee that each member state will keep a commissioner in future European Commissions – despite the document initially foreseeing a reduction of the size of the institution, as well as a promise that the EU would not impose rules on Ireland concerning taxation, "ethical issues" – such as abortion, euthanasia and gay marriages - or interfere with its traditional neutrality.
In order to make these promises legally binding, they will be written into a protocol in Croatia's accession treaty.
In exchange for receiving concessions from the other EU countries, Ireland has committed to holding a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty by November 2009.
Euobserver
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