Irish Voters Can Tell EU Drones to Take a Hike: Matthew Lynn

June 11 (Bloomberg) -- Irish elections are usually something that can be safely ignored by the rest of Europe. Not tomorrow. Ireland will be the only one of the European Union's 27 members to put the new governing treaty to a popular vote. The decision is on a knife's edge. One poll last week showed a majority in the ``no'' camp, though it looks as if many Irish are undecided. One thing is certain: If the treaty vote fails, it will be as dead as the ill-fated constitution that preceded it. The Irish should take that chance. The treaty tries to create an EU president and foreign policy when neither is wanted or needed. It is yesterday's answer to yesterday's question. The EU has spent 10 years on constitutional issues, instead of addressing climate change, population decline, racial integration and scarcity of natural resources, all of which are pressing. The Irish could do the whole European continent a favor by killing the treaty, sending a message to the EU's leaders to get on with something more important. There is a lot at stake in tomorrow's vote. The treaty, which was signed in Lisbon in December, overhauls the EU's founding documents. It creates the post of president, strengthens the foreign policy-making function and hands more power to the European Parliament. It repackages the 2002 and 2003 constitution developed by former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing. It collapsed after French and Dutch voters rejected it. Opponents Lead The Irish still need plenty of convincing. An Irish Times/TNS MRBI poll published on June 6 gave opponents a lead, 35 percent to 30 percent. A poll published by the Sunday Business Post showed supporters leading 42 percent to 39 percent, but with 19 percent undecided. ``An Irish rejection would sap the political will of governments to implement a difficult set of reforms to the EU's institutions,'' Hugo Brady, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform in London, said in an analysis this month. With only 4.2 million people, it might seem destructive of the Irish to attempt to throw out a treaty that has been endorsed by the EU's leaders. The Irish have benefited from the EU more than most countries, as the ``yes'' campaign points out. And while it is a myth that Ireland's economic boom had much to do with the EU -- low taxes played a far bigger role -- it has certainly benefited from the single market. Even so, they should pluck up the courage to say no. Here's why. Already Rejected First, there is no good argument for bringing back a slightly modified version of a document that was rejected by voters. Worse, this time around most people haven't been offered a vote. A poll of more than 17,000 people across Europe by the think tank Open Europe found that 75 percent wanted a say before any more powers were handed over to the EU. They should have been given the chance to vote on the new treaty -- and if their leaders won't give it to them, it should be rejected by the one electorate that will be asked. Next, an EU president will either be a divisive figure -- former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair may be a candidate -- or a nonentity. It is hard to see how either can do much good. As for a foreign policy, it is impossible to come up with a strategy that will satisfy the Atlantic-oriented British, the fiercely independent French or the eastward-looking Germans. The nations of Europe have such different traditions and interests, they can't create a single foreign policy in the way they could a single currency. All they will do is spend years wrangling over a policy on Zimbabwe or Myanmar -- and come up with nothing. Single State Most importantly, the EU needs to change direction. It should stop building the apparatus of a single state. People don't want to be ruled from London, Madrid or Berlin, let alone Brussels. Catalonia and Scotland are demanding greater autonomy. The Czech Republic and Slovakia have happily separated. Some of the greatest successes in Europe are micro-nations such as Latvia and Estonia. The times demand a looser, more flexible confederation, not a bigger, more centralized one. The EU has spent a decade negotiating a constitution and its successor treaty. In that time, the world has moved on. It would be better if the Irish killed the treaty and let the EU start working on things its people are really concerned about.