EU:Ireland will be left behind if it fails to ratify the new EU treaty next year, commissioner Charlie McCreevy has warned.
Mr McCreevy said Ireland would be "out" if the electorate voted against the treaty in a referendum, planned for May 2008.
"If 26 other countries have ratified it and Ireland hasn't, I don't think they'll change it for our sake. Put it another way, we won't be in," he told journalists.
Ireland, which rejected the Nice Treaty in 2001, is the only EU member state planning to hold a referendum on the issue; in most countries, the decision will be left to national parliaments. The Cabinet this week approved the draft version of the new treaty, but decided to opt out of some anti-crime provisions.
Ireland would not be in a very comfortable position if it were the only state that rejected the treaty and it would not be shown the same "liberties" as before, when there was a second vote on the Nice Treaty.
Mr McCreevy, the Internal Market Commissioner, warned that it would not be possible for Ireland to seek to renegotiate the treaty if the people rejected it. The only option was for us to end up "back where we are".
He defended the manner in which other states propose to ratify the treaty, which heads of state are expected to approve at a summit in December.
"Each member state must ratify the treaty in the way that is appropriate for itself." Ireland was obliged to hold a referendum because of its Constitution and the Crotty judgment.
Mr McCreevy said he planned to campaign for a "yes" vote, but admitted there was a danger that people might use the vote to give the Government "a slap in the face".
The last time, people thought the EU was moving too fast, and there was a failure to communicate the good things the EU was doing for people, such as lowering airfares and getting rid of customs barriers, he said.
"Eaten bread is soon forgotten, and people don't tend to think of these things."
However, since then lessons had been learned, with the establishment of the Forum on Europe and more efforts being made to communicate.
He said he was not in favour of greater political integration; people wanted the EU to do certain things and their governments to do other things.
"I'm not an integrationist and I never will be," Mr McCreevy said. When he woke up in the morning, he was an "Irishman first, and then a European".
Mr McCreevy, who has two years more to serve as commissioner, confirmed his intention to stay for one term only. "I'm 33 years in politics, and it's time to do something else. Politics isn't the be all and end all of it."
He said he had no idea who his replacement would be. The Taoiseach, he added, would have no problem fitting in in Brussels should he be nominated for a senior EU post. "If I can feel at home here, there'll be no problem for anyone else."