DUBLIN, Ireland — Political leaders across Europe were shaking their heads in frustration this weekend at the Irish voters’ veto of the latest European Union treaty. But many of their citizens weren’t.
Ordinary Spaniards, Dutch, French and Britons, who wish they could get the same chance, might also say “no” to the cold, distant heart of Europe.
“Spaniards feel Spanish, the French feel French, and the Dutch feel Dutch. We will never all be in the same boat,” said Eduardo Herranz, 41, a salesman in Madrid, Spain.
Voters in Ireland, one of the most pro-European voices in the 27-nation bloc, rejected the Treaty of Lisbon on Thursday. The complex, 260-page document sought to change EU powers and institutions to keep them in line with its growth into Eastern Europe.
The EU’s political establishment is already calling on all other members to keep ratifying the treaty through their governments alone while calculating what it will take to make Ireland vote again, only this time “yes.”
An Austrian teacher escorting 17 teen students on a visit to Ireland said her father in Vienna was jubilant over the Irish “no.”
“People want to stay independent and be less regulated by Brussels,” said Marianne Findeis, 51, who added she would have voted in favor. “They have to have some sort of treaty for Europe.”
