Irish referendum on Nice Treaty 'doomed to fail again'

The Irish government's plans to ratify the European Union's treaty on expanding membership are doomed to defeat, one of the country's most pro-European politicians said yesterday.

Mary Banotti, a prominent member of the European Parliament, said that the election results in the Irish Republic demonstrated growing left-wing hostility to EU plans. "It's now my opinion that the ratification of the Nice treaty is doomed," Ms Banotti said.

"Many vested interests feel threatened by enlargement," she said, specifying the politically influential farmers' lobby.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, whose Fianna Fail party emerged stronger from last week's parliamentary election, is planning a second public referendum in October on the EU Treaty of Nice.

Voters rejected the treaty in June 2001, when the "no" camp rallied 54 per cent support by warning that Ireland had surrendered too much control over its affairs to Brussels. The most pro-EU party, Ms Banotti's Fine Gael, was the biggest loser in Friday's poll, suffering a net loss of 24 seats in the 166-member parliament.

The Green Party and Sinn Fein, the most outspoken critics of the EU, both ended their fringe-player status and won four seats each.

The parliaments of all 15 EU member states are supposed to ratify the treaty by the end of the year. Ireland is the only nation that requires EU treaties to be passed by referendums.

The treaty, agreed by EU leaders in Nice in February 2001, proposes reforming the Union's internal structures to permit the addition of up to a dozen new countries from Estonia to Cyprus.