Word: cowens
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Sarkozy is due to travel to Ireland on July 11 to hear firsthand the concerns of Irish voters, but beyond that there is little he can do until October, when Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen tells the other E.U. leaders whether a second Lisbon Treaty referendum is possible...
...Sarkozy and other E.U. leaders are now pinning hopes of salvaging the Treaty on another referendum, perhaps in a year's time. Officially, the bruised Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen was treated with sympathy at the Brussels summit, and there was universal recognition that the Irish vote had to be "respected". But behind the scenes, Cowen - tellingly banished to the far end of the family photograph of E.U. leaders - was alternately cajoled and bullied to run another vote...
...None of this makes Cowen's task any easier. He will now report back to the leaders at their October summit with either a road map charting a way out of the mess or a confirmation that another vote is pointless and the treaty must be declared dead...
...Instead of a makeover, Cowen is more likely to offer Ireland the kind of matter-of-fact - some would say blunt - talk that has made him the first Irish premier to admit smoking marijuana, back when he was a student in the late '70s. "Unlike President Clinton, I did inhale," he said...
...committed European, Cowen said his first important task is to ensure that Irish voters ratify the European Union's Lisbon treaty by referendum next month. The treaty, meant to streamline the Union's structures, has to be approved by all 27 E.U. member states to come into force; Ireland is currently the only one among them that will do it by popular rather than parliamentary vote. Polls suggest that the Irish will do so, and with Cowen now leading the campaign, opponents of the treaty may want to brace themselves for a bruising...