Europe
Open Europe to stage "No means no" protest at EU summit
At the EU summit in Brussels today, Open Europe will be holding up giant letters spelling out 'NO MEANS NO' in the colours of the Irish flag - to urge EU leaders to stop the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty. We will be near the European Council building on Rue de la Loi, between the Schuman Roundabout and the entrance to the Parc du Cinquantenaire, between 12.30 and 3.30pm. Call us on 44 7973 142775, 44 7980 550319 or 44 7817 787008 for more details and to arrange an interview.
UK ratifies Treaty; Irish say pressure will depend on how many others ratify; France pressed for deadline to pressure Irish
The Irish Independent reports on the debate in the Dail yesterday. Brian Cowen has said that he will resist pressure for a timetable to turn around the no vote. Labour Leader Eamon Gilmore said that how much pressure Ireland would come under would depend on how many other countries ratified the Treaty.
The BBC Ten O'clock News yesterday reported on the protests which erupted as the UK House of Lords ratified the Treaty yesterday. Over the course of the start of the debate four different people were ejected from the public gallery for shouting "give us a referendum". The FT reports that "British approval is seen in European capitals as a significant signal the Lisbon treaty is not dead." The paper reports "Mr Brown will tell the President that he will not stand in the way of efforts to salvage the Treaty." The Guardian reports that the Government will get the Queen to give royal assent to the Treaty bill to ratify the Treaty this morning ahead of Gordon Brown's lunch with Nicolas Sarkozy today. A separate piece notes that France wants to agree a deadline of October for a deal to be agreed which would lead to a second referendum in the spring.
The front page of Le Figaro reports that "Sarkozy wants to make the Irish vote again". The paper notes that "the idea is that once their 26 European partners have ratified, the Irish will be strongly inclined to re-examine their no vote." Commission President Jose Barroso said: "I would like to thank the government and parliament for the constant support for the new treaty during the negotiation and ratification process." In a statement yesterday the Czech Prime Minister said that the Czech Republic would suspend ratification of the Treaty pending the outcome of a decision by the Constitutional Court, expected in the autumn.
Several papers report on growing hostility to Jose Barroso from France. Socialist MEP Martin Schultz has called for Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy to be sacked for saying the Treaty was unreadable and that "no sane person" would want to read it. Barroso hit back saying that attacking the Irish Commissioner was "not the best way of fostering dialogue with our Irish friends."
Liberal Democrat MEP Graham Watson said: "We know Lisbon is needed, even though this is not obvious to the citizen."
Open Europe is quoted in the Telegraph and the Express saying that "Gordon Brown should be ashamed of himself for being part of the attempt to isolate and bully the Irish. If a tiny country like the Czech Republic has the guts to say the treaty is dead, why can't the British Government do the same?"
Guido Fawkes mentions a Downing St petition set up by Open Europe calling on the British Government to halt ratification of the Treaty, which has gathered over 21,000 signatures in two days.
Le Figaro quotes French Prime Minister Francois Fillon saying that Europe is "misunderstood" and that this is because "the EU has not found the words and the acts to encourage a more powerful attachment" to it. The spokesperson for the Socialist Party, Jerome Lambert, has called for "the creation of a minimum wage in every member state."
In an interview with Le Figaro, MEP Mendez de Vigo, who is the EP's rapporteur on the Lisbon Treaty, says, "The British vote reduces the Irish no vote to a glitch." He says the solution could be to include a declaration in the Charter of Fundamental Rights guaranteeing that national legislation on abortion would remain unchanged. But he says, "However, there is no question, as some have suggested, of concluding a separate treaty on defence to please the Irish, or to guarantee to them that they would keep ad vitam aeternam a Commissioner in Brussels." He adds, "Then, a second referendum should take place, crucially before the European elections in June 2009." He also says he is in favour of the idea that the Treaty would enter into force as soon as it is ratified by four fifths of the member states representing four fifths of the population. He says, "Can we be the hostage of decisions taken by a single member state?"
Comment: Gullible journalists who bought the line that the UK was "secretly" in favour of killing off the Treaty, and was only going along with ratification for diplomatic reasons, should now realise that the UK Government is not remotely in favour of dropping the Treaty. Rushing through royal assent just to please Sarkozy shows where the Government really stands.
FT Sun Irish Independent Irish Times Irish Independent Guardian Guardian 2 Telegraph EUobserver Guido Le Figaro Coulisses de Bruxelles
Irish no vote puts plans for tax harmonisation on ice
The FT reports that the Commission has put plans for harmonisation of tax bases on hold following the Irish no vote.
Business group calls for EU to drop Lisbon
Miles Templeman from the Institute of Directors has a letter in the FT saying that: "we need to move on. Europe simply cannot afford yet another round of distracting negotiations aimed at reviving the institutional provisions in Lisbon." The "Business for New Europe" group have a letter in the paper supporting the Treaty.
US looks at lessons from EU's failing Emissions Trading Scheme
The front page of the IHT says that the US is looking at the lessons of the EU's ETS. It warns that the EU scheme "tells a cautionary tale - one in which politicians and influential industries may be diverting carbon trading from its original purpose of reducing planet warming gasses." It quotes Hugo Robinson from Open Europe warning that because of the ETS, "We are currently in danger of losing yet another decade in the fight against global warming."
UK Government comes out against biofuelsThe front page of the Guardian reports that the Gallaher report on biofuels, due out next week, will forced a rethink of UK and EU policy, because it concludes that biofuels have playing a "significant" role in increasing food prices.
UK could spend over £100 billion and still not hit its EU renewable energy target
The Guardian reports that the Renewables Advisory Board, made up of senior figures from the industry, says that hitting the target is not conceivable, and falling just short of it would cost in excess of £100 billion.
UK will try to overturn EU GMO restrictionsT
he front page of the Independent reports that the UK wants to plant GM crops in the UK, and will propose changes to the restrictive EU GMO regime today at the European Council.
Comment round up
In the Guardian Tim Garton Ash warns that the current plan - a second referendum in Ireland - may not succeed, and it is time to consider a fallback plan: "many of the institutional changes... could be implemented without a new grand treaty." He says, "I won't bore you with the details, which would make a Jesuit blush, but it turns out that given ingenuity and political will, things like a more consolidated foreign policy apparatus with a single head could probably be made to happen anyway." Iain Martin argues in the Telegraph that "The Irish cheered us up for a few days, but be certain they will be swept aside... The Irish said stop; we need to find our reverse gear". He mentions Open Europe's recent poll which found that just 14 per cent of British people think the Lisbon Treaty should be ratified in the UK.
Telegraph Martin Guardian Hoggart
Le Monde reports that the head of the UMP delegation to the National Assembly, Jean-Francois Cope, has said that the parliament should take a "public position" on all proposals for directives from Brussels, ahead of their implementation.
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