The Government is insisting that Britain's decision to postpone indefinitely its plans for a referendum on the EU Constitutional Treaty will make no difference to its determination to hold such a poll in Ireland, write Mark Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent, & Derek Scally in Berlin.
British home secretary Jack Straw yesterday suspended legislation to enable a referendum on the constitution saying: "We see no point in proceeding at this moment." While he said Britain could resume preparations for a referendum "should circumstances change", the announcement is a further blow to those member states still hoping that ratification can continue despite the rejection of the treaty in French and Dutch referendums.
Ireland was among over a half dozen member-states that played down claims yesterday that the British decision came close to killing off the EU constitution. Poland and Denmark responded immediately saying that their referendums, planned for the autumn, would go ahead.
Luxembourg prime minister and current EU Council president Jean-Claude Juncker insisted the treaty was not dead despite the British announcement.
"The British government has today not said that it won't hold a referendum, but that they have to wait for the summit next week to see what other European Union states think about the ratification," Mr Juncker said.
While Germany, France, Poland, Slovakia, Denmark and Ireland also continued to insist yesterday that the ratification process could continue, there is growing speculation that the European Council meeting at the end of next week may agree some mechanism to "pause" the ratification process in the hope that time can produce some mechanism to rescue it.
A spokesman for the Taoiseach said yesterday that the Government position remained the same as it was before Mr Straw made his announcement. That position, as enunciated in recent days by Government spokesmen and Ministers, is that the Government wants to see the EU Constitutional Treaty ratified and is continuing to prepare for a referendum.
Next week's European Council meeting of the 25 EU leaders will decide whether to proceed with, abandon or pause the ratification process. Minster for Social Affairs Séamus Brennan said at the weekend that the Government would not make "a unilateral decision" before that meeting. He said the Taoiseach would be among those arguing at next week's European Council that the constitution is "rescuable", although Britain's freezing of its plans for a referendum makes a decision to pause the whole process for a period appear the most likely outcome.
The British Government says any decision on how to proceed should wait for next week's European Council meeting, but British officials say privately that Mr Blair sees no prospect now of winning a referendum in Britain, and that a defeat could end Mr Blair's career as prime minister.
Slovak president Ivan Gasparovic was joined by Bulgarian and Romanian leaders in his call for the ratification process to continue, as Poland and Denmark said their referendums would go ahead.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer described the British decision as "not an end but an interruption".
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said nobody, including Britain, had taken a final decision not to ratify the constitution. "So far, I have not heard about any member state saying that it intends to take a definitive decision . . . All the indications I have from all member states, including the United Kingdom, are that they want to discuss this issue in the European Council (on June 16th-17th)," he said.
However the British Conservative Party spokesman on foreign affairs, Dr Liam Fox, spoke for many opponents of the treaty yesterday when he said: "I may no longer practise medicine but I can tell a corpse when I see one."