Dublin Opinion

[From the People’s Movement]

The text of the EU treaty amendment on the permanent crisis mechanism for the euro is a simple two-sentence statement that provides a legal basis for a permanent mechanism to resolve euro debt crises.

The amendment states: “The member states whose currency is the euro may establish a stability mechanism to be activated if indispensable to safeguard the stability of the euro as a whole. The granting of any required financial assistance under the mechanism will be made subject to strict conditionality”.

EU officials believe the revision may not necessitate another European referendum in Ireland and a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs that if there was no transfer of competency, then there would be no need for a referendum.

So the mandarins in Iveagh House and their masters in Brussels believe that no messy referendum will be necessary to ratify the change because this amendment won’t transfer any new “competences” to Brussels and that the “simplified revision procedure” outlined in Article 48 of the Lisbon Treaty may be safely used.

This is typical Brussels doublespeak. If the EU didn’t need new powers to create a bailout mechanism, it wouldn’t need to amend the treaty that governs the union.

The final text and the revision procedure may have been agreed by EU leaders but it is very likely that the ultimate decision will rest with the courts and that we will have another referendum in Ireland.