Second treaty vote would cause fall of government, says Libertas chief

Libertas leader Declan Ganley has said that a second rejection of the Lisbon Treaty would probably cause the collapse of the government, reports the Irish Independent.

"We should not, we should not, I beg you, make the mistake of recommending a rerun of this referendum because it will be lost. It will be lost for a multitude of facts," he said during a three-hour Dail committee debate on Tuesday.

"Let's not have another referendum because if it's 'No' it will probably provoke the collapse of the Government or some senior figures in it, he added.

The Irish Times reports that Ganley suggested at the meeting that the treaty should be replaced by a 15- or 25-page EU constitution.

Ganley said that the treaty was an “affront to the idea of parliamentary democracy and the worst examples of elitism in Europe”.

“Look at the reaction from people who would not give their people a vote. Nicolas Sarkozy, the preening prince of the Elysée Palace, he bypassed the need to have a referendum.”

“We need to throw away Lisbon and go back to basics. Europe needs a constitution of no more than 25 pages. It needs to be upfront and honest in what it sets out to achieve. All of Europe must be given a vote on it. Make the people stakeholders, that’s the deal we need”.

Meanwhile, MEPs on the European parliament’s constitutional affairs committee yesterday approved a report drafted by German Socialist deputy Jo Leinen calling on the EU to take every effort to ensure that the treaty is ratified before next year’s parliamentary elections.

The move comes after the committee called on the December European council to reach an agreement allowing Ireland to ratify the treaty in spring 2009.

The resolution, approved on Monday, invites the Irish government to put forward firm proposals on the way forward after the referendum "no".

"If the treaty does not enter into force before the parliamentary elections next year, European citizens will be deprived of important new democratic rights in the EU,” said committee chair Leinen.

EU considers aid for car makers

European officials have started lining up behind an EU-wide aid programme for its auto industry, though some officials expressed concerns about breaking EU rules on competition and state aid, reports the Wall Street Journal.

German vice chancellor and foreign minister Frank Walter Steinmeier and Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs meetings of finance ministers from the euro zone, said in a joint interview with German tabloid Bild published on Tuesday that a pan-European response was needed.

France is also considering providing help for the auto industry with its EU partners and the European Investment Bank, French government spokesman Luc Chatel said.

Overuse of antibiotics on the rise, says new report

EU health commissioner Androulla Vassiliou has heralded the first European antibiotic awareness day as an opportunity to encourage “prudent use” of antibiotics, reports the Irish Times.

The event, launched on Tuesday in Strasbourg during parliament’s plenary, comes as new data shows that the emergence of bacteria resistant to antibiotic treatments is increasing.

The report says Ireland is one of three European states where the use of antibiotics is rising year-on-year.
 

Migration low after EU expansion

Contrary to popular belief, the EU's expansion towards central and Eastern Europe has not sparked a massive influx of Polish plumbers or Bulgarian builders to the bloc's richest nations, reports the IHT.

According to the European commission's latest report, more and more workers from the EU's 12 newest member states have been relocating to Germany or Britain since being allowed to move freely around the 27-member club.

The report essentially concludes that fears of an invasion of 'Polish plumbers' were unfounded.

 

Zimbabwe's Tsvangirai asks EU for more food aid

Prime minister-designate of Zimbabwe Morgan Tsvangirai made an urgent appeal to EU countries on Tuesday to increase food aid to cope with the increasingly critical food shortages in his country, reports the IHT.

Tsvangirai said that food agencies needed €150m to feed more than 500 million people through January.

UK must repect EU budget rules, warns ECB chief

European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet has warned the UK government that it must respect EU budget rules when considering a financial incentives to lift the economy, reports the Guardian.

"All I can say is that the UK as well as [other euro zone countries] ... are members of the EU and therefore members of the Stability and Growth Pact," he said on Tuesday at an an event organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese foundation in London.