By Martin Banks - 14th July 2009
The UK Independence Party is considering mounting a challenge to the legal guarantees won by Ireland over the stalled Lisbon treaty.
Irish premier Brian Cowen won the guarantees from his EU partners last month to address concerns of voters who last June opposed the treaty, designed to streamline EU decision-making and give the 27-nation EU a greater say in world affairs.
But UKIP questions whether the guarantees on issues such as Ireland's military neutrality and abortion are legally binding.
It has hired a leading Dublin law firm to look into the matter, saying that it could seek a judicial review.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage, whose party opposes the treaty, told this website, "Our understanding is that the so-called guarantees the Irish 'won' are not worth the paper they are written on. But we need to legal advice on this before what, if any, further action to take."
The move comes after it emerged that the second Irish referendum on the treaty will be held on 2 October.
An Irish government spokesman said it viewed ratification of the Lisbon treaty as "a vital contribution" to economic recovery, saying the government was "very satisfied" with the outcome of the recent EU summit in Brussels.
The Irish government, accused of failing to allay voters' concerns and not tackling opponents to the treaty head-on last year, has pledged to conduct a better organised and livelier campaign this time with plenty of information about the complex treaty text.
Opinion polls suggest the Lisbon treaty now has the support of a majority of voters who see the benefits of EU membership to help bring Ireland out of one of the deepest recessions in the industrialised world.
Meanwhile, newly-elected Irish Socialist MEP Joe Higgins has marked his arrival in parliament by describing the recent EU summit in Brussels, where Ireland won its legal guarantees, as an "elaborate charade" and accusing Cowen of "throwing dust in the people's eyes" by peddling worthless guarantees.
Higgins said "not a comma" would be changed in the treaty before the Irish people were forced to vote in a second referendum.
"What is at question here is the right of the Irish people to say 'No'," said Higgins, who was due to give a news conference in Strasbourg on Wednesday.
Higgins claimed the assurances thrashed out between Europe's leaders in Brussels had not addressed voters' concerns.
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