A round-up of today's Libson Treaty news stories in brief
EU president appeals for Yes
European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek used his inaugural speech at the parliament yesterday to appeal to Irish voters to vote in the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
He was joined by eight former presidents of the parliament, including Pat Cox, who all sought a Yes.
“All of the former presidents are in agreement [on] the importance of the Lisbon Treaty to equip the European Union to deal with the challenges of the 21st century, including the economic crisis, climate change, immigration and cross-border crime,” he said.
O’Leary rejects No ‘headbangers’
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has set out why he thinks Ireland should vote Yes to Lisbon in an expletive-laden piece on website YouTube.
In his five-minute tirade, Mr O’Leary describes those on the No side as “unemployable f***ing headbangers” and claims if it weren’t for the EU, the country would be destroyed by an “incompetent public sector”, “inept politicians” and trade union bosses who were “milking the system” through social partnership.
“Our incompetent political elite,” he said, had shattered Ireland’s competitiveness.
Cost of borrowing would rise – warning
Ireland for Europe campaign co-ordinator Brendan Halligan has warned the cost of borrowing would rise immediately if the Irish people reject Lisbon.
Mr Halligan told a meeting of the Drogheda and District Chamber that Ireland was borrowing €25 billion annually to keep our services afloat. “Every 1 per cent extra we would have to pay as a penalty for loss of confidence in Ireland would cost €250 million annually.”