"Ireland should do the rest of Europe a favour and withdraw from the European Union." That's the verdict of a former Danish Liberal foreign minister, and his call was followed yesterday by a
Danish MEP who says the Irish people should be asked to vote on whether they want to
remain part of the EU.
Elleman-Jensen's outspoken article has appeared in several European newspapers. He argues that withdrawal is the only tenable solution to the crisis prompted by the country's vote on Lisbon.
"It would be sad to lose the merry people of the emerald island from the EU family. But it would be even sadder if, because of the Irish "no," all those who wish to secure the same benefits from European integration that made it possible for the Irish to prosper are left out in the cold," he argues.
The central problem. he writes, is that enlargement can not continue without the simplified decision-making procedures proposed in the treaty Elleman-Jensen recalls that after the Danish rejection of the Maastricht Treatyin the summer of 1992, "the Danes were told that one way or another the country would have to leave the EU family if we did not find a way out." As it happened opt-outs were negotiated that enabled a successful reballot.
"Our EC partners could not throw us out in June 1992 — but the other 11 could create their own EC-11, and we could have been left alone in the empty shell of an EC-12. This time, however, it seems very difficult to see how all others could agree to create an EU-26 while isolating Ireland in an empty EU-27, though that would be a reasonable solution.
"That is why the Irish should show magnanimity and tell the others to go on without them."