Greens will not take party stance on Lisbon Treaty

The Greens will not be able to take a party position on the Lisbon Treaty following the failure to secure a two-thirds majority in favour of the treaty at a special convention at the weekend.

The vote of 63 to 37 per cent in favour of the treaty at the Green party's special convention in Dublin on Saturday fell short of the required two-thirds majority required to adopt an official party position.

As a result, the Green Party as such will not participate in the referendum debate, although individual members will be involved on both sides. The party's six TDs and two Senators all favour a Yes vote.

With a decision on the referendum date for the Lisbon Treaty expected in the next fortnight, Labour has accused the Green Party of putting a Yes vote in jeopardy.

Labour spokesman on Europe Joe Costello TD said in a statement: "A junior partner in Government is at sixes and sevens, where their parliamentary party is apparently in favour of the treaty, but where the party itself, after Saturday's proceedings, actually has no position."

Minister for the Environment and Green Party leader John Gormley said: "It is always difficult for any organisation to win a two-thirds majority on contentious issues, but I interpret the vote as a mandate for myself and my parliamentary colleagues to recommend a Yes vote in the upcoming treaty debate."

Green Party spokeswoman on Europe Senator Deirdre de Búrca said the large majority for Yes "explodes the myth that the Green Party is anti-European".

However, Green Party TD for Dublin Mid-West Paul Gogarty was critical of the way the issue was handled. Although he supported the parliamentary party decision early last week for a Yes vote, he said it was wrong to issue a press statement about it because this alienated some members .

"Let's hope we carry out our debates better next time," he said. "It was far too arrogant of the so-called leadership within the party pushing a few points on the membership - even though they are entitled to do so - without the membership having time to make due consideration. As someone who supports the treaty I'm delighted that the majority came out, but there was too much flapping around and lack of clarity over procedures within the debate which could have been sorted out through better organisation," he said.

Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan said the two-thirds majority rule was "a useful check and requires you to get involved in real democratic engagement with the party members".

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said yesterday his party would "campaign very strongly and actively in favour of a Yes vote" and would not use the referendum to damage the Government.

"Fine Gael's first job is to convince out own supporters that on this occasion they should withhold their ire against Fianna Fáil, Bertie Ahern and the Government and stand for Europe, because this is about reforming institutions to work for 500 million people as opposed to 200 million people."

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times