Brussels, 04/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - The principle of a limited review of the Lisbon Treaty decided by the European Council last week with a view to creating a permanent management mechanism for the countries of the eurozone (see EUROPE 10247) is to be conceived in a way that review will not involve a substantial transfer of sovereignty to the EU and a referendum will not be required for ratification in member states. It was, at any rate, with this in mind that the heads of state and government gave their approval to Herman Van Rompuy, allowing him to begin consultation on this mini-revision of the treaty, for which the substance and practical modalities could be finalised in December. One week after, the project is threatened.
Netherlands. The Partij Voor de Vrijheid (PVV) under Geert Wilders is contemplating calling for a referendum on review of the treaty should sanctions foreseen against countries not complying with the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact prove insufficiently severe. The PVV wants to await the final result of the legislative process underway on sanctions as well as on the terms and conditions of the permanent crisis management mechanism before taking a final position on the matter of referendum. If the result is deemed unsatisfactory then, as PVV member Louis Bontes said this week: “We shall ask citizens, for example, if they are willing to commit to financial support of countries such as Greece or Spain”. The PVV's position is crucial for the minority government under Mark Rutte, which has only 52 of the 150 seats in parliament and which therefore needs the support of 24 PVV members to form a majority. An agreement of support has, moreover, been sealed between the VVD, CDA and PVV. The Socialist Party (SP, in opposition) is also calling for a referendum on the new treaty review. In 2005, the European constitution had been rejected by the Netherlands during a referendum. The Lisbon Treaty was then ratified in 2008 by parliamentary vote.
Czech Republic, Poland. The Czech and Polish heads of government, Petr Necas and Donald Tusk, also intimated that they were not enthusiastic about the idea of changing the treaty. “Each possible change to the Lisbon Treaty must be well considered and explained. It must be 100% justified, must not serve only several EU countries but must be clearly positive from the point of view of the whole EU”, Tusk said on Thursday 4 November speaking in Warsaw during a joint press conference with his Czech counterpart. Petr Necas pointed out that, in his country, ratification procedures for changing the European treaty were highly complicated. Czech ratification must, in particular, be signed by President Vaclav Klaus, known for his euroscepticism. In November 2009, Klaus had not signed ratification of the Lisbon Treaty until after long months of wrangling and only after gaining an exemption from the EU for the Czech Republic on application of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. (H.B./transl.jl)