Ireland Not Ready To Knuckle Under to EU

The EU was thrown for a loss last week with the "no" vote by the Irish on the "Lisbon Treaty," as it was called in Ireland. There is no easy way out of this mess for the EU.

Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin has said it is "far too early" to seek a solution to the Irish rejection of a European Union reform treaty.

He was speaking as EU foreign ministers met to discuss how to respond to the Irish No vote on the Lisbon Treaty.

The treaty cannot be implemented unless approved by all 27 EU states. Only the Irish Republic has held a referendum.

Ireland represents only about 1% of the EU population and slightly more than 1% of the economic power, but at this time has had a lot of impact on the future progress of the EU treaty. Having just spent about a month in Ireland myself, I was not completely surprised that the Lisbon Treaty was voted down. From my observations, the proposed treaty was seen on the street as a transfer of power from the Irish government/people to the EU. The treaty was seen as taking representation away from the Irish government/people and obligating them to taking orders from Europe.

In addition, Ireland is already in the middle of an economic downturn. As a result, the Irish citizens I talked to are looking for more leadership from their government, not less. And some of the blame for their economic troubles are laid a the feet of the EU. Many people have immigrated to Ireland in recent years for work and this is now seen as taking jobs away from the Irish residents. Plus, housing prices have soared as well as food and other costs of living. In addition, the EU is seen as causing the closing of some plants in Ireland due to various trade restrictions mandated by the EU. I will always remember the anger in one Irish man's voice as he pointed to a shuttered plant near Cork and that used to employ 2000 as he stated to me that the plant was closed by the EU treaty.

Rightly or wrongly, I found that the attitude on the street about the EU was one of profound suspicion.

I anticipate that the other EU countries will react by moving forward with the approval process in other EU countries in the effort to get a mandate. Then they will go back to Ireland and any other countries that may vote it down and give them an ultimatum to reconsider or else leave the EU.

Time will tell as to how effective that approach may be, but I would not bet on the Irish people I met being intimidated by the EU any time real soon.