The Centre

The EU faces a conundrum: how to make itself respected and appreciated by citizens at a time when they are ever more wary of politicians, elites and “the establishment”.

Three years on from the French and Dutch rejections of the EU constitution, in June 2008 it was the turn of the Irish to pour cold water on the dreams of the Brussels institutions in voting down the Lisbon Treaty. The EU must now walk the tightrope of seeking to salvage its decade-old institutional reform process whilst not being seen to trample on the will of the Irish people. That will not be an easy balance to strike. How it handles this latest existential crisis will affect its public perception and legitimacy at a crucial time, with European Parliamentary elections and the renewal of the European Commission both looming in 2009.