Legal uncertainties surround the European Union preparing for the European elections and a new Commission without knowing if the Treaty of Nice will continue in force or exactly how the Treaty of Lisbon takes over, if ratified. The previous blog post ‘Lisbon Treaty ratification (Ireland)’ presented the main points of the memorandum discussed by the EU Committee of the Finnish Governmen...

It is astonishing to think that the ratification of the Lisbon treaty has been rammed through 27 national parliaments, including in the UK, with very serious questions over legality. That is not my opinion. That is the view of the...

Bruton: Ireland should only hold referendums the government thinks it can win The FT reports that the Irish government became embroiled in a row with Czech President Vaclav Klaus last night after he attacked the Lisbon Treaty. Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin accused Klaus of “inappropriate intervention” by meeting Irish anti-Lisbon group Libertas on his state visit.

Czech news site Aktualne.cz reports that pressure on Czech President Vaclav Klaus to sign the Lisbon Treaty is growing following the Czech Senate’s vote to approve the Treaty last week. Klaus has expressed his reluctance to provide his signature, which is required to complete formal ratification in the Czech Republic, before the second referendum on the Treaty is held in Ireland.

The fate of the European Union's Lisbon treaty was thrown into question after Czech president Vaclav Klaus threatened not to approve special legal provisions for Ireland

Ireland has stood firm against the Lisbon Treaty, against the expectations of the EU. The battle is on to somehow obtain a 'solution' to the Irish problem, either a second referendum with a different result (unlikely), or an all-Party Parliamentary ratification (unlikely) or some kind of legal stitch-up (very possible). But that assumes that all the other 26 countries will ratify the Treaty.German...

The Telegraph's splash headline this morning - that Cameron is to renege on his European referendum voting pledge - is deeply misleading. It was always completely clear that the pledge held while the Lisbon treaty remained to be ratified. This...

Via Faustie's Blog, here is a video from the Politics Show about what the Tories plan to do with their referendum on the Lisbon Treaty if the Treaty is ratified, as looks likely, by the time that the Conservatives get into government. The upshot is, basically, "bugger all". The point is this: the Lisbon Treaty has already been ratified by our government, and the Lisbon Treaty supercedes all other ...

The European Scrutiny Committee has effectively backed 88% of the British people who wanted a say on the Lisbon Treaty and who have questioned, on grounds of democracy and law, how the Lisbon Treaty could ever have been enforced in...

Today I was asked by an Italian magazine to provide some answers to a few questions about our approach to the European Union and the Lisbon Treaty. Below are my answers,1) - You welcomed the Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. Why? The rejection of the Lisbon Treaty is to be welcomed as it allowed at least a small number of the general public to have their voice heard on the European stage. The ...