Europe: Irish Parties Urge Voters to Back Eu Treaty

Ireland's prime minister, Brian Cowen, joined forces with the leaders of the two main opposition parties yesterday to urge voters to back the EU reform treaty, days ahead of a knife-edge referendum.

A no verdict on Thursday would wreak havoc on the troubled project to reshape the EU by giving it a long-term president, a foreign minister and a revised voting system. France's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said there would be "gigantic incomprehension" from the rest of Europe if Ireland voted no. "The first victims would be the Irish. They have benefited more than others."

On Aranmore and Tory - two islands off the County Donegal coast - a total of 650 voters cast their ballots yesterday. Ireland is the only EU state holding a referendum on whether to accept the deal struck at Lisbon last year.

Yesterday afternoon Cowen chaired a press conference in Dublin with Fine Gael chief Enda Kenny and Irish labor leader Eamon Gilmore during which they urged a yes vote.

"We represent 80% of the electorate and a wide range of public opinion within society," Cowen said. "Any reasonable assessment by Irish people has to lead them to vote yes." Kenny said a yes vote "would keep Ireland at the heart of power and influence within the EU".

"It is too easy to say you lose money, lose power, lose jobs," he added. "All these claims by the no side have been completely discredited. They're downright lies."

Gilmore said the Lisbon treaty was too important for Ireland to be left to party political squabbling.

The outcome still appears on a knife edge, with two opinion polls giving conflicting results. One had the no camp ahead by five points, although 35% were undecided; another on Sunday found a 42-39 majority for the yes side.

Irish government strategists believe that only a high turnout on Thursday can secure a yes vote. In previous referendums on Europe no voters have been more likely to attend polling stations.

Former taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald said yesterday that a no vote would wreck the work of 26 governments over six years and lose Ireland goodwill at the European negotiating table.

But Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said a no vote would force the Irish government to go back and negotiate a better deal. His is the only party represented in the Dáil (Irish parliament) that is opposed to the Lisbon treaty. Speaking while on a canvass in Limerick City yesterday, Adams said a no vote would enable Ireland to fight for the retention of an Irish EU commissioner as well as obtain opt-outs on the country taking part in any pan-European military operations.

The no vote is likely to benefit from the complex nature of the treaty, which many voters said they could not understand.