Policy Focus

Brok wants second Lisbon referendum before EU elections

German deputy Elmar Brok has backed calls for the Irish to hold another referendum on the stalled Lisbon treaty before next June’s European elections.

Irish prime minister Brian Cowen is expected to come under pressure from both Paris and Bonn to call a second referendum as early as March when he attends this week’s EU summit in Brussels.

Brok, a member of the European convention that paved the way for the now defunct EU constitution, said the referendum should be held before the elections “otherwise the momentum will be lost”.

“Of course, it is up to the Irish to decide whether or not to hold another referendum,” he went on.

“However, a large number of Irish voters thought they were poorly informed about the treaty before the first vote and this is something the Irish government will have to address.

“I believe we need to be able to go before the electorate next year having put all such institutional matters behind us.

“Rather than this, the public wants to know what we have to say on issues such as climate change and the current financial crisis,” said the centre-right MEP, a former chair of parliament’s foreign affairs committee.

Brok was speaking at a news conference in parliament with Spanish EPP deputy Íñigo Méndez de Vigo on the future of the treaty. His comments come after Irish foreign minister Micheál Martin told MEPs that the debate about the treaty must “take its course” in his country.

Meanwhile, press reports at the weekend say that EU officials are already in the advanced planning stages for a second vote in Ireland in either spring or August next year.

Margot Wallström, the commission’s vice president responsible for “communicating Europe”, is thought to be planning to set up a “rebuttal function” to tackle “misinformation” from no campaigners.