Ierse premier: EU-landen moeten niet bang zijn voor referenda (en)
As the only country so far to definitely have a referendum on the newly-formed EU treaty, Ireland has said other member states should not be "afraid" of taking the same path.
"I think it's a bit upsetting ... to see so many countries running away from giving their people an opportunity," Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern said on Sunday (21 October), according to the Irish Independent.
"If you believe in something ... why not let your people have a say in it. I think the Irish people should take the opportunity to show the rest of Europe that they believe in the cause, and perhaps others shouldn't be so much afraid of it," he added.
Ireland is constitutionally bound to have a referendum with Mr Ahern last week indicating that it could take place in May or June next year.
His comments are unlikely to be welcome across the Irish Sea in 10 Downing Street where British leader Gordon Brown is fighting a tough battle not to have a public poll, amid strong calls from the opposition that his premise for not having a referendum is unsound.
The Labour government argues that it does not need to have a referendum because the new treaty is sufficiently different to the rejected EU constitution - on which it had promised to ask the opinion of the famously sceptical British public - and because it has secured special 'red lines' in the text.
Since then several public figures have remarked on its similarities while the Europe committee in the British House of Commons concluded it was "substantially equivalent."
Meanwhile, it remains open whether Denmark - the other uncertain state - will have a referendum. It is obliged to do so if legal experts agree that power has been transferred to Brussels.
But it is not only these three states where a referendum is an issue.
A recent Financial Times/Harris survey found that 70 percent of respondents in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain would be in favour of a vote on a new treaty.
The document has to be ratified by all 27 member states for it to come into force as planned in early 2009.
During the ratification process of the European Constitution, nine countries had approved it by the time France and then Netherlands in close succession rejected it, effectively shelving the document.
It also put paid to the idea of bringing Europe and its treaty-making process closer to EU citizens - something heralded in a 2001 declaration that in 2002 launched the European Convention to draw up a constitution.
Instead, the new EU Reform Treaty was drawn up quickly and largely behind closed doors earlier this year and has resulted in a document that is full of amendments, protocols and declarations spread over several treaties and largely difficult to read.