SLOVENIA:Incoming EU president Slovenia has called on the Government and the entire political class in Ireland to work hard to get a Yes vote in a referendum on the reform treaty.
The small central European state, which took over the six-month rotating presidency of the union yesterday, has warned that a rejection of the treaty in the Republic could plunge the EU into a deep and profound crisis. It has made ratification of the EU treaty a priority of its presidency.
"It is clear if we fail this time the crisis in Europe would be much deeper than the last one," said Janez Lenarèiè, Slovenia's state secretary for European affairs, referring to the crisis caused by the rejection of the EU constitution by voters in France and the Netherlands in 2005.
"We hope and pray that that won't happen. This treaty is really important for Europe. It has to evolve and develop further and this treaty allows that."
The reform treaty would make decision-making at the council of ministers more efficient and boost its role in the field of foreign affairs. Ireland so far is the only EU state that will hold a referendum to ratify the text, raising fears in Slovenia that there could be a repeat of the No vote registered in the first referendum on the Treaty of Nice in 2001.
"In 2002 the Irish voted again [ on Nice] and fortunately the second time it worked. For us as one of the candidate countries that was very important because Nice was the treaty that allowed enlargement," Mr Lenarèiè told The Irish Times in an interview. "We don't have any plan B this time. We just want to get it [ the reform treaty] done."
Mr Lenarèiè is aware that EU referendums often produce anti-government votes. "I think this is the reflex of the voters; maybe it would be a similar thing in Slovenia, who knows? But in most democracies people are suspicious about what the government says, so one should be very careful. The political leadership should understand, analyse and decide what to do in order to ensure the outcome."
One of the big challenges faced by the political class in Ireland will be explaining the treaty to the public, according to Mr Lenarèiè, who admits the several hundred articles, dozens of protocols, declarations and annexes are not easy to understand. He is confident of a Yes vote if the treaty is fully explained, but he warns of attempts by others to mislead voters.
"The EU by any objective measure has been a good thing for Ireland, so if you put the question this way: do you want to continue with this good thing, improve it, strengthen it, enable it to deliver for you and others, then the answer should be clear."
Mr Lenarèiè rejects accusations by anti-treaty campaigners that the decision not to hold referendums in 26 EU member states is anti-democratic.
"Our countries are representative democracies, we go to elections, elect our representatives to sit in parliament, who are used to legislative work and this thing [ the treaty] is legislative work.
"There is nothing wrong with parliamentary ratification. There is nothing wrong with a referendum either, but that requires more work by the political class with the people."