Monday, Oct 21, 2002
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By Hasan Suroor
The new entrants would include several former communist bloc countries such as Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Latvia. Nearly 60 per cent of the 2.9 million voters were reported to have voted in favour of the Treaty and the `no' camp was quick to concede defeat, though the final tally was still awaited. There was a collective sigh of relief across the E.U. as a `no' vote would have plunged its future into a great deal of uncertainty, delaying its expansion by at least three years. The outcome of the bitterly fought referendum was seen as a personal triumph for the Irish Prime Minister, Bertie Ahern, whose standing in Brussels would have suffered a major blow if he had failed to win support for the Treaty. He lost the first referendum held 16 months ago on a low voter turnout, and this time he was determined to extract a `yes'. Critics accused his Government of `rigging' the rules and the format of the referendum to get the desired result. There was also anger among the `no' fraternity, comprising the Sinn Fein, the Greens and civil rights groups, over the decision to call a second referendum after the people so overwhelmingly voted against the Treaty only last year. ``In order to push ahead with Nice, the Irish Government disregarded last year's clear referendum result, changed the rules and changed the question,'' a conservative member of European Parliament, Daniel Hannan, said accusing the Irish Government of resorting to `undemocratic' means to win the referendum. The `yes' campaigners, however, were jubilant and claimed that they lost the first referendum not because there was not enough support for a unified Europe but because their own campaign had not been sufficiently energetic and people did not fully understand the implications of the referendum. This, they said, was reflected in last year's low turnout of just about 35 per cent compared to around 45 per cent in Saturday's poll. Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister, Mary Harney, said she was "very pleased'' with the result but cautioned that the vote was not for a "United States of Europe'', a reference to fears that a unified Europe might lead to an erosion of national sovereignty of member-states. "We are not going to support a United States of Europe and anyone who tries to fast-track the agenda will find out that we will not buy into it,'' she said. Mr. Ahern, who believes that Ireland should be in the heart of Europe, saw the outcome as a vindication not only for his pro-Europe policy but also for his domestic agenda. The `no' vote in last year's referendum was seized by his critics to portray it as a show of no-confidence in his Government.
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