Declan Ganley has made a lot of what the current President of the European Council, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, about what solution the European Council would find to the problem of number of Commissioners if we failed to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. His answer reflects the reality the EU does try to find the most satisfactory solution to unsatisfactory situations. The current requirement, under the Nice Treaty rules, is that there is a maximum of 26 on the Commission, to come into effect at the next Commission, to be appointed this year. The Council agreement of December 2008, which could only come into effect with Lisbon, would reverse this, so that every country would have a Commissioner.

Mr Reinfeldt said that there could be 26 Commissioners, and that the position of High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, could be assigned to the 27th country. This is not a good enough solution, as the holder of that position should be the best qualified, and not necessarily be someone from the country who misses out on the Commissioner by lot in the rotation. It is not a place on the table of the College of Commissioners which was of such an issue to the Irish people. The High Representative would not have a vote at the table. This does not address our concerns.

But the real problem is that this is only a temporary solution. The EU will expand, and then such an arrangement will fall apart.

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