neutrality, among other concessions. A second referendum on the Treaty of Nice was held in October 2002. Under massive pressure from throughout the EU, Irish voters approved the treaty by a resounding majority of 62.9%, with a turnout of close to half of registered voters.
The whole scenario repeated itself several years later when the Treaty of Lisbon – the repackaged EU constitution – came up for approval. On June 12, 2008, Irish voters rejected the treaty by 53.4%, with a 53.1% turnout. That this result was a great surprise to the Irish political establishment is testimony to the gulf between the decision makers and the average voters.
The predictable uproar ensued. Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg’s foreign minister, said that Ireland would need to have a second vote, adding, “The question is how can we prepare it so that it can be won.”8 Elmar Brok, a senior MEP from Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (Angela Merkel’s party), declared controversially that Ireland would need to vote again and that a new referendum would decide whether Ireland stayed in the EU or not.9
Now the Irish political establishment was worried. They saw themselves between the rock of revealing their disrespect for Irish voters yet again, and the hard place of finding themselves shamefaced and excluded among their peers in the EU elite.
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