mr president in a situation where twenty-five or twenty-six countries have said yes to the treaty of lisbon and just one has said no it is not unreasonable nor indeed undemocratic to ask whether the one is willing to reconsider but provided the rest of us are willing to meet the concerns that were expressed when they voted no
that is not to ignore the result of the irish referendum it is to respond to the result of the irish referendum look at the concerns that were expressed and try to meet them
but that of course requires ireland to tell us to tell the other countries exactly what concerns were expressed to define a list of demands that we can then respond to or at least negotiate on
the solution of course has to be acceptable to all twenty-seven countries
preferably that means not renegotiating the whole treaty but interpreting it clarifying it adjusting the way it could be implemented to meet the concerns
i for one am confident that can be done but it requires a first step from ireland
i am glad that the irish parliament has taken the initiative on this instead of leaving it to the government
