So Ireland has voted No to the Treaty of Lisbon. For now, in some strange way, that’s ended the work we were doing here at whodoicall.eu – the Treaty of Lisbon would have created the President of the European Council position that would have been merged with the President of the European Commission according to our proposal. But on the other hand we were in favour of the Treaty of Lisbon precisely because it makes the EU a bit more democratic. So what now?
It strikes me that the essential reason we embarked on the whole idea of whodoicall.eu was still as valid as ever – the need for the EU to have one figurehead, the head of the executive, and for that person to be democratically accountable. Indeed Brian Cowen, the Irish Prime Minister, has stated that that lack of democratic accountability of the President of the European Council as proposed by the Treaty of Lisbon was one of the main concerns of the Irish people.
So while the means to the end – the Treaty of Lisbon – may be on ice for now, the very idea of One President of the EU is more valid than ever. So in some shape or form whodoicall.eu will continue – I look forward to your comments about how that may be so.