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DUBLIN: Ireland was voting in a referendum Thursday on a key EUpact designed to shore up the troubled eurozone, amid signs that aclear majority will vote to approve it. In the only referendum expected on the fiscal pact, which all 27 EUmembers have signed except Britain and the Czech Republic, pollingstations opened at 7 am (0600 GMT) and were due to close at 10 pm. The vote on the German-backed pact, which would penalise countriesthat sign up if they fail to keep their debt in check, will beclosely watched as a "no" vote could give momentum to the growingEuropean backlash against austerity measures. But four final opinion polls at the weekend suggested around 60 percent of the 3.1 million voters would back the treaty, and leadingbookmaker Paddy Power has offered odds of 1/25 on a "yes", meaningit thinks it is a near certainty. The Irish government has warned voters it would only be able to getguaranteed financial help from the European Stability Mechanism(ESM), the EU's new permanent bailout fund which comes into forcein July, if voters ratify the treaty. Two years after Ireland was forced to seek an 85-billion-euro(US$106 billion) bailout from the EU and International MonetaryFund, and with ministers warning they may well have to access theESM, the message has struck a chord with voters. "People argue that you'd vote 'yes' out of fear and 'no' out ofanger, but it's a bit more complicated than that," Michael Marsh,politics professor at Trinity College Dublin, told AFP. "There's some trust in what the government's saying, that you'djust be silly not to vote yes," he added. On the eve of voting, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny said that byratifying the pact Ireland would be sending a signal that it will"never run riot with the people's money again". "This is about stability, bringing confidence to the euro," Kennysaid as he campaigned at a Dublin railway station, adding that a'yes' vote would show Europe that Ireland could lead by example. "When we take over the EU presidency next year we want to be veryeffective," he told AFP. "A strong 'yes' vote adds to the respectand our credibility with our colleagues in Europe." Hoping to harness public anger against the spending cuts and taxrises brought in after the bailout, the pact's Irish critics havelabelled it an "austerity treaty" as it ultimately empowers the EUto fine countries that overspend. "We know that austerity doesn't work, and that's increasingly whatpeople are saying in mainland Europe," Gerry Adams, leader of SinnFein, the main party opposing the pact, told reporters outsideIreland's parliament on Wednesday. With a third of the electorate still undecided, there is still apossibility that Ireland could deliver a shock "no" vote, as it hasdone in two previous EU referendums. Since the fiscal pact will come into force after just 12 countrieshave ratified it, and with four having done so already, an Irishrejection of the treaty would not be enough to bring it to a halt. But it would fuel a growing campaign led by France's new PresidentFrancois Hollande for Europe to focus on growth rather thanbelt-tightening as the cure for its economic crisis. - AFP/ck. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Feed Mixing Machine , China Pellet Cooler, and more. For more , please visit Pellet Crumbler today!
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