By Matt Williams - 20th February 2008
STRASBOURG: MEPs may have overwhelmingly voted in favour of the Lisbon treaty, but deep divisions remain.
Parliament adopted Richard Corbett’s joint report by 525 votes 115 Wednesday, prompting some MEPs to challenge euroscepticism within Brussels.
“There are some, certainly in this chamber, that would like to reject the treaty, and to turn back the clock to Nice, or even further to nineteenth-century thinking,” said UK liberal deputy Andrew Duff during a debate on the treaty on Wednesday.
“Unfortunately this includes members of the UK’s Conservative party…the UK is a strangely insular place,” he added.
Others in favour of the treaty included EPP leader Joseph Daul, who said that it would lead to more democracy and more visibility.
“For the EPP members of my group, this treaty is important because it will re-launch European dynamism, after years of institutional debate," he said.
His optimism was echoed by Irish UEN deputy Brian Crowley.
“Those that would point the finger and say that Europe is bad…totally ignore the facts on the ground,” he said.
Rapporteur Richard Corbett added that “this is a level of scrutiny that exists in no other international structure”, and that the vote “demonstrates the consensus across the European parliament that the EU rulebook should be brought up to date to cater for an EU of 27 countries”.
Co-rapporteur Mendez de Vigo said that the treaty was a “political solution” to achieving ratification by all the member states.
Scottish EFA deputy Ian Hudghton however said that a new treaty did not solve the fundamental problem in the EU of detachment on the part of its citizens, which was a problem for most national governments.
“I’m not entirely certain whether we are fully aware just how fraught the situation is in Europe at this time,” he said.
“We talk about the achievements…because we wanted to put something in place that would get the citizens on board…this is less than we wanted, it is below our aspirations.”
UKIP deputy Nigel Farage also spoke out strongly against the lack of referenda on the treaty in the member states, and dismissed the achievements of the treaty as meaningless.
“It’s nonsense, it’s all part of the lie,” he said.
“You resort to totalitarian means to get this treaty through…I think the people of Europe will work out for themselves who the extremists are,” he added.
The Lisbon treaty has already been ratified by five member states and is shortly due to be ratified by Poland. Ireland will hold a referendum on the treaty later this year, which, if it returns a "no" vote, will mean the treaty cannot be adopted.
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