The Portuguese will not be voting on the European Treaty

Political commentators David Charter and Philip Webster point out that "the decision by Portugal not to hold a referendum but to ratify the treaty through its parliament will come as a huge relief to Downing Street and the Elysée Palace, which feared extra pressure on them to hold a public vote. The revelation of top-level phone calls will, though, only increase suspicions that the European political elite have coordinated efforts to avoid a repeat of the referendums in France and the Netherlands in 2005 that sank the proposed constitution and plunged the EU into a two-year crisis. ... As with Labour's last manifesto, Mr Socrates had promised a referendum on the EU constitution during election campaigning. ... The Portuguese move means that the Irish Republic, which has a tradition of public votes on big issues, remains the only country in the 27-member EU where a referendum will be held."

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