Irish vote sends EU back to the drawing board

3.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 13th Jun 2008

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats note the outcome of the Irish referendum with deep regret.

Graham Watson, leader of the ALDE group in the European Parliament also indicated his huge disappointment:

"If the rejection is confirmed today the incoming French Presidency should convene a special summit of EU leaders with only this one item on the agenda. All 27 Member States must decide a course of action on the fate of the Treaty and its proposed reforms and commit themselves to a concerted campaign to explain what the European Union is, why and how it works and why it deserves their support.

If there is one clear lesson from Ireland it is that too few people know what the EU is about or how it is adapting to a changing global environment."

Andrew Duff MEP, constitutional affairs spokesperson for the ALDE group and one of the co-authors of the Treaty of Lisbon, said:

"This is a tragic outcome for Ireland, for the EU and for Europe's place in the world. The problems that the Treaty of Lisbon addressed remain: democracy, efficiency and capacity to act. We continue to believe that the content of the Treaty of Lisbon is in the very best interests of all the member states and citizens of the European Union.

"Brian Cowen, Irish Taoiseach, will have some tough explaining to do next week in the European Council on 19-20 June.

"I urge the heads of government to show strong leadership. They should not delay a decision about how to tackle the problem nor propose any new 'period of reflection'. If a solution is to be found it needs to be done soon."

Marian Harkin MEP (Independent, Ireland) commented:

"It is a very disappointing result. It was an extremely difficult campaign, much of the time was spent trying to counteract the misinformation being put out by the very well resourced "no" camp. Ireland became the battlefield of Europe and unfortunately this particular battle was lost. I am hoping that the Council meeting next week will give the necessary leadership to put the EU reform process back on track."