Getting your player ready...
DUBLIN — The future of the European Union hung in the balance Friday as Ireland’s voters decided again whether to ratify a treaty aimed at making the 27-nation body more decisive and effective.
As polls closed after 15 hours of voting, the pro-treaty opposition party Fine Gael said its national survey indicated a 60 percent “yes” vote. But aides to Prime Minister Brian Cowen said unofficial tallies from the ruling Fianna Fail party indicated a narrower “yes” majority of about 53 percent.
A second Irish “no” would doom the Lisbon Treaty, a painstakingly negotiated blueprint for sharpening EU institutions following the bloc’s rapid eastward expansion since 2004.
