PARIS (MNI) – Irish voters have approved the EU fiscal compact
treaty by a wider-than-expected margin, with more than 60% casting
ballots in favor, election officials announced Friday.
Official results showed that 60.3% of voters approved the treaty,
while 39.7% voted against. Because opinion polls showed a large number
of undecided voters going into the election, some analysts had said the
vote could be tight.
The Irish government had campaigned strongly for a “yes” vote,
arguing that it would give renewed confidence to foreign investors and
help ease Ireland’s return to the debt markets when the country’s
bailout program ends next year.
Opponents tried to tap into voter anger over austerity plans that
have driven Ireland’s unemployment rate over 14%
In the end, however, voters appeared to heed the government’s
warning that Ireland needed to have access to the European Stability
Mechanism, Europe’s permanent bailout fund, in case it is unable to fund
itself in the markets once its bailout program ends.
Only countries that adopt the fiscal compact treaty will have
access to the ESM.
“A lot of people voted very, very reluctantly and were very much a
victim of the scare tactics used by the government,” said Gerry Adams,
president of Sinn Fein, which led the opposition to the treaty.
The treaty, pushed strongly by German Chancellor Angela Merkel,
will oblige signatory states to enshrine a balanced budget rule in their
national laws and stiffen penalties for those who violate the EU’s
limits on public deficits and debt.
The implementation of the treaty does not depend directly on the
outcome of Thursday’s vote, as it will come into force once 12 of the 17
Eurozone member states have ratified it.
–Paris newsroom, +33142715540; jduffy@marketnews.com
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