COMMISSION/MEPS:IRELAND'S REJECTION of the Lisbon Treaty will not affect plans to introduce a common method of calculating corporate taxes across Europe, the EU's commissioner for taxation has said.
"There is no reason to change our plans concerning tax policy initiatives. The CCCTB is in the pipeline," Laszlo Kovacs said, referring to the acronym used to describe a European Commission strategy to harmonise the corporate tax base throughout the EU.
France has said it will vigorously promote the plan during its six-month EU presidency, which begins next month.
Speaking to reporters in Strasbourg, Mr Kovacs said an impact assessment on the proposal was being finalised. Many campaigners against the treaty argued that such a move could be the first step in challenging Ireland's low corporate tax rates.
"The Lisbon Treaty would not change anything as far as tax is concerned . . . So all those who campaigned against the Lisbon Treaty with a slogan or an argument that Ireland will lose its tax sovereignty were simply telling lies," Mr Kovacs said.
Meanwhile, Ireland's No vote has dominated this week's plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
The parliament's president Hans-Gert Pöttering stressed the need for the EU to give Ireland space to reflect on the way forward. "We have to find a solution, together with the Irish Government and the Irish people.
"The discussions [between EU foreign ministers on Monday] go in the right direction in the sense of giving some time to Ireland to consider and come back to the European institutions and member states with a suggestion," he told The Irish Times.
"We should not press Ireland . . . We should not make proposals from our side right now; we should listen to the Taoiseach and give the first initiative to our Irish partners."
Socialist group leader Martin Schulz criticised Irish commissioner Charlie McCreevy over his admission that he had not read the document. "We have to ask Mr Barroso what kind of people he has in his commission," the German MEP said.
"I don't think we can renegotiate the treaty," he said, and ridiculed the idea of attaching protocols to the treaty to reassure Ireland that Brussels will not force it to adopt tax changes or introduce abortion. "We would be a laughing stock at the end of the day."
Fianna Fáil MEP Eoin Ryan told the assembly that the EU was facing "uncharted waters". "We must resolve the issues before us with a sense of maturity, wisdom and careful reflection . . . But we must avoid knee-jerk reaction. We must avoid snap judgments and hasty decisions," he said.
Another Fianna Fáil MEP, Brian Crowley, told a meeting of the Parliament's constitutional affairs committee that "serious lessons . . . [that] extend far beyond Ireland" should be learned from the referendum.
"We must reflect and ask how best Europe can connect its political message to all elements of European society, and not just to particular audiences," he said.