Irish 'Yes' Vote Clears Way To EU Enlargement

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

21 October 2002

In a clear 'yes' vote yesterday the Irish ratified the Nice Treaty, voting by a margin of 62.9% to 37.1% to approve the revised European Union treaty which permits enlargement of the Union by a further ten members and introduces new decision procedures to allow for the extra members.

Last year in a similar referendum the vote went the other way, and this re-run had been seen as a crucial decider in the enlargement process. Ireland is the only country which needed a referendum to approve the treaty, which in all other member states could be ratified by a vote of the legislature.

A relieved Bertie Ahern, Irish prime minister, said the referendum result showed that Ireland "wants to welcome the nations of the applicant countries with open arms". That understandable piece of euphoria is far from the truth, of course. In the minds of the Irish voters the referendum was about all kinds of things, and enlargement was just one of them.

Leszek Miller, Poland's prime minister, said he would drink a glass of Guinness and sing 'I Love you like Ireland'. Poland is the largest of the 10 proposed new EU members, which also include Cyprus and Malta.

Markets now expect currencies in the applicant countries to strengthen and bond yields to fall, handing profits to those who have bet an estimated 15bn dollars on the success of the enlargement process.

Recommended