Irish voters say "No" to EU Treaty.(THE LAST WORD)(European Union's Lisbon Treaty)

Unlike the other 26 EU countries, a requirement in their national constitution gave Irish voters the opportunity to register their opinion of the EU's Lisbon Treaty. In each of the other states that make up the EU, parliaments have been making the decision, and 18 had already approved the document by the June 12 date scheduled for the Irish referendum. Things were progressing smoothly for this next step in consolidating Europe. But Ireland's feisty electorate threw a monkey wrench into the EU's continuing grasp for power with a 53.4 percent to 46.6 percent No vote. From one end of Europe to the other, leaders now ponder what to do next.

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In 2005, French and Dutch voters rejected a previous EU Constitution. Slowed down but far from defeated, the Eurocrats produced a substitute document signed in Lisbon by the leaders of all 27 states in December 2007. Not a constitution this time, they labeled it a treaty. Britain's leaders refused to allow a referendum in their country claiming that an existing promise to give them a vote on the issue referred only to a constitution, not a treaty. France's Nicolas Sarkozy admitted that French voters would again reject the new document if they had the opportunity, but no referendum in France would be allowed.

Ireland's voters feared that Ireland's unusually low business taxes would be changed by Brussels. More than 600 American firms have established their European headquarters in Ireland because of the low levies. Also figuring strongly in the No vote were concerns about ceding more individuality to the growing dominance of Brussels where the EU is headquartered. As much as 85 percent of laws passed in various parliaments emanates from EU headquarters. Some voters registered their No votes in order to resist the possibility that the country's ban on abortion and its long tradition of military neutrality would be changed.

British member of parliament Denis MacShane, a former minister of the British Parliament for Europe, noted correctly that "ordinary citizens" in country after country have no passion For entanglements with Brussels. He added, "They see a bossy Brussels, and when they have a chance of a referendum in France, the Netherlands, or Ireland to give their government and Europe a kick, they put the boot in."

Were the Lisbon Treaty to take effect in January 2009, it would give the EU its first full-time president, a foreign policy chief, even the possibility of an EU military arm. Other than