Yes 67% No 33% Turnout 58%:FOLLOWING THE decisive Yes vote by the Irish electorate, EU leaders have called on Eurosceptic Czech president Vaclav Klaus to stop holding up the democratic will of all Europeans and sign the Lisbon Treaty.
“The European Council is united in its wish to see the treaty enter into force before the end of the year,” said Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country currently holds the EU presidency.
“I have therefore invited prime minister [Jan] Fischer and commission president [José Manuel] Barroso to a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday,” Mr Reinfeldt said.
The parliaments and governments of the Czech Republic and Poland have ratified the treaty but a presidential signature is still required to complete the process. Polish president Lech Kaczynski is expected to sign the treaty in coming days but Mr Klaus has said he will not sign the treaty until a new legal appeal against the treaty is ruled on by the Czech constitutional court.
However, the Czech government has warned EU leaders not to exert outside pressure on its court or president as this would be “counterproductive”.
“Any direct pressure on the institutions involved in the last stage of the ratification process could be unconstructive and indeed counterproductive,” Stefan Fule, the Czech European affairs minister, told EU ambassadors in Prague in a briefing last week.
The Czech court is expected to rule before the end of the year but there are fears in Brussels that Mr Klaus will continue to withhold his signature until a Conservative government comes to power in Britain next year. Tory leader David Cameron has said he will hold a referendum if the Lisbon Treaty has not been ratified in all member states by the time he is prime minister.
The Irish referendum result showed a swing of 20 per cent since the first referendum in June 2008. The total vote in favour of the treaty was 1,214268, or 67.1 per cent of the valid poll. The number voting against was 594,606, which came to 32.9 per cent.
There was also a higher turnout this time around, with 58 per cent of those on the electoral register casting their votes. This was five percentage points up on the first Lisbon referendum in June 2008.
Almost as soon as the result became clear, speculation intensified about the next Irish EU commissioner. Taoiseach Brian Cowen is expected to make an early move on the nomination as some other countries have already nominated their candidates.
Pat Cox, the former president of the European Parliament who played a significant role in the Yes campaign has been widely tipped to succeed Charlie McCreevy.
Former taoiseach John Bruton, who is currently the EU ambassador to the United States, has also been the subject of some speculation, as have a number of Fianna Fáil politicians including MEP Pat The Cope Gallagher and former MEP Eoin Ryan.
There is an expectation that the political imperative of avoiding a byelection will rule out the appointment of a Cabinet Minister for the post.
The recognition that the victory of the Yes campaign was due to a broad coalition may also prompt the Taoiseach to nominate a non-Fianna Fáil figure who could command cross-party support.
Mr Bruton and Mr Cox are widely respected at EU level and would be in a position to pitch for a reasonably senior position in the commission in the light of their political experience. The term of office of the current commission expires at the end of this month but it will be extended if the treaty is not ratified by the Czechs by that stage.
The new position of president of the EU Council of Ministers will also be up for grabs when the treaty is ratified. The Taoiseach yesterday gave a qualified endorsement to former British prime minister Tony Blair for the post. In an interview on Sky News he said that Mr Blair was highly respected and admired in Ireland for his role in the peace process. “If he’s a candidate you can take it that we’d be very supportive,” he said.