” “”The result of the Irish referendum has been a huge failure for all those who have endeavoured to produce EU-wide decision-making procedures that would be more democratic, more easily understandable by the public opinion, effective and transparent”. Hans-Gert Poettering, president of European Parliament, has just given his speech in front of the heads of state and government of the EU member states, gathered in Brussels. The German politician took stock of the state of the institutions, stating that, despite the defeat at last week’s referendum, the “ratification process must go on”, saying that one must take consider the 19 states (with a population of 339 million, specified Poettering) which have already ratified the treaty. In addition, the president of the Assembly reviewed some of the causes of the “no” that came from the Emerald Island and the conduction of the election campaign in the run-up to the referendum. Then, he lingered on a few points on the agenda of the summit, such as the rise in food prices, energy and climate, the rise in oil prices, the problems of security and the financial crises, stating that “the European Union must keep working for the common people”.
