mr president the new irish vote this time approving the lisbon treaty is indeed very good news
however there are at least two aspects that require caution
the first is that the treaty still needs the signature of president klaus whom we have only embittered with our reaction to his open scepticism and anti-europeanism when he spoke in this chamber last spring
i only wish that we were smarter than that
the second aspect where caution is required is the high expectation we place on the restart of integration including enlargement once the lisbon treaty is in place
the truth is that if we slow down it is not because of the absence of the lisbon treaty which is only an alibi for it but because of the negative effects of the current crisis encouraging renationalisation of certain community policies and the centrifugal tendencies within the union
those have to be dealt with separately and properly if we want the lisbon treaty to be what we expect it to be
