Cox predicts close-run thing in Irish EU treaty referendum

Former parliament president Pat Cox has admitted the outcome of the Irish referendum on the Lisbon treaty will "go to the wire."

Cox, who heads the pro-Lisbon campaign group, Ireland for Europe, said, "There is no room for complacency and we will have to fight right to the very end."

The TV-presented-turned politician added, "The battle will run up to the close of the ballot boxes and nothing should be left to chance."

Cox, a former ALDE group leader, says he feels "positive" about the result after an exhausting campaign in recent weeks, adding, "I have to say also that there is a lot of anger and frustration among the public about the state of the economy.

"I do not know what impact the economy will have on the poll but the economy has obviously been the biggest change since the last referendum. The mood seems to be that the treaty offers a step on the road to economic recovery

"What is clear is that the government faces no easy options in the coming weeks and months."

He agrees with Irish foreign minister Dick Roche who at the weekend admitted to being "nervous" about the outcome. Cox added, "Anyone involved in a referendum campaign is correct to be cautious."

He is dismissive of the anti-treaty campaign waged by the UK Independence Party and Declan Ganley, who heads Libertas and unsuccessfully stood in June's European elections.

"Ukip have been very negative and I actually think their campaign will aid the Yes side rather than the No one.

"There is considerable resentment at people like Nigel Farage interfering in the campaign."

He describes Ganley as a "spent force", adding, "He has not had the same impact this time as in the last referendum."

Cox, who is widely tipped to be Ireland's next EU commissioner, praised the intervention of José Manuel Barroso, the newly elected president of the commission, who warned at the weekend that a No vote would threaten jobs and damage the Irish economy.

He said both Barroso and parliament's president Jerzy Buzek, who was also in Dublin recently to drum up support for the Yes side, had acted with "decorum and diplomacy" in their campaigning.

Meanwhile, the latest issue of the Parliament magazine features articles by several MEPs ahead of the poll on 2 October.

Carlo Casini, chair of parliament's constitutional affairs committee, says, "The European engine must be primed. This is the aim of the treaty."

Irish Socialist deputy Proinsas De Rossa said, "Listening to the 'No' campaigners you would not realise that the world is in such a mess, as they pursue their own often unspoken agendas."

UK ALDE deputy Andrew Duff says a second No vote would damage Europe's credibility on the world stage while Ukip's Farage writes, "The 'Yes' side is funded and promoted by the elite while the 'No' side is perceived to be a rag-tag collection of disparate groups."

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