Tomorrow Ireland decides Treaty of Lisbon

Irish people is going to decide the future of Europe.

The population of the European Union is 490 million, according to the CIA World Factbook. If we imagine that 2/3 of the EU population is old enough to vote, that would work out at about 325 million. After the defeat of the EU Constitution in 2005 by Dutch and French voters (and the rejection of the first Treaty of Nice in Ireland in 2001), the elites of Europe have learned a valuable lesson: don't put vital matters of EU-wide importance to the people by referendum, because they might just vote the "wrong" way.

So, the Irish people are the only citizens in all the European Union to be given the right to vote on this so-called treaty. That is to say - out of some 325,000,000 Europeans who should be allowed to have their say, the fate of the EU will be placed in the hands of some 2,000,000 Irish voters

The EU's new Lisbon Treaty is under threat because Ireland is holding a popular ballot on the agreement ahead of a referendum.

Ireland is the only member of the 27-nation bloc that is holding the ballot and if the "no" vote wins a majority, it will be the end of the treaty. In a desperate attempt to get a "yes" vote, the Irish Premier Brian Cowen has resorted to appealing to the Irish nation's largely pro-European instincts.

Brussels now has to wait and see whether or not it gets a "yes" vote which will be announced on June 12. And if it fails to get the vote, it has to come up with a new strategy. But what?

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