Leaked memos and French threat to Celtic Tiger economy could scupper Brussels-Dublin manoeuvring over EU treaty

Bertie Ahern was fiddling self-consciously with the buttons on his jacket when the gates of Dublin's Government Buildings swung open and the motorcade swept into the Edwardian quadrangle.

Out leapt José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, smiling broadly, striding confidently up the steps to clasp the hand of the Irish Taoiseach.

(Article continues below)

It was an important moment, a show of unity designed to convince Irish voters that they have nothing to fear from the controversial Lisbon Treaty when it is put to a referendum on June 12.

Yet even as the two men emerged from their private talks to insist that Europe loved Ireland and Ireland loved what Europe had done for it, a murky deal to keep voters sweet was threatening to scupper their hopes.

Two leaked memos suggest that the Irish government and Brussels are going to great lengths to suppress bad news that might encourage a No vote - a result that would delight Eurosceptics everywhere, since if Ireland does not ratify the treaty it cannot come into force anywhere in Europe.

An internal email from a British diplomat in Dublin let slip that the commission's vice-president, Margot Wallström, had promised the Irish government to "tone down or delay messages that might be unhelpful".

Full article here.