VILNIUS — The heads of state of all three Baltic countries said they were pleased about the result of Ireland’s second Lisbon Treaty referendum, continuing their support of the treaty ratification.
The approval of the Irish, whose voters supported the treaty by 67 percent this time around, removes one of the last obstacles to the implementation of the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty. Now only Poland and Czech Republic have not ratified the treaty out of the 27 member states. Poland is expected to sign off on the treaty soon, while Czech President Václav Klaus, an avowed eurosceptic, has asked his country’s Constitutional Court to examine whether the treaty can be lawfully enacted.
At a press conference Monday, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė, a former EU Commissioner, called for Poland and the Czech Republic to move forward with ratification.
“I hope the countries that have not yet completed the ratification process to do so,” Grybauskaitė said, adding that the enactment of the treaty would make dealing with the economic crisis easier for the EU.
Grybauskaitė’s foreign policy adviser Darius Semaška explained that this would be made possible by the streamlined decision-making process the treaty would implement, allowing more majority-based instead of unanimous votes on policy issues.
“Well, we need efficient and effective decision making in the European Union. We believe that Lisbon, the implementation of the Lisbon treaty will do those things,” Semaška told Baltic Reports. “We need that for the support of our national interest.”
Latvia reacted similarly. Latvian President Valdis Zatlers had called for Ireland to hold another vote soon after the initial referendum voted the treaty down.
“President Zatlers welcomes the results of referendum in Ireland as it is one step forward to signing the Lisbon Treaty. The president has always stressed that strong Europe is in the interests of Latvia, and Lisbon Treaty will strengthen EU both internally and in cooperation with its external partners,” Elina Lazdane, deputy head of the presidency’s press office, told Baltic Reports.
Estonia had ratified the treaty even after it stalled in Ireland. Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said the treaty was important for a stronger EU.
