Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams who met French President Nicolcas Sarkozy yesterday in Dublin has floated the idea  a new EU treaty.

In a statement Adams said, “The space and the support for a new treaty clearly exists. If the Irish government were to take a lead in building a political and social alliance for a better deal it would reap substantial dividends both in terms of the content of any new treaty and in its standing among the peoples and governments of the EU“.

German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier disagrees and writing today on the website  of Deutsche Welle the German international radio and TV broadcaster argues that, “We will not give up on the Lisbon Treaty. We want to see the ratification process continued” and that “the Irish ‘no’ should not lead Europe into a cul-de-sac“.

Steinmeier makes the  predictable argument that ratifying Lisbon will make the EU more effeicient, democratic and accountable, a belief only held among the political eites of Europe and not by its people.

I wonder will he read the Financial Times today, it has a fascinating article by Tom Gallagher who is releasing a book next year on Romania’s entry into the EU. In his article titled “How the EU let Romania off” Gallagher alleges that, “Former communists and rogue capitalists who became extraordinarily rich through manipulating an unregulated economic system after 1989 are among the main beneficiaries of the €30bn in structural funds flowing into the country courtesy of the EU taxpayer” and writes of the “EU’s inability to stand up for basic standards of governance” in Romania.

If the claims made by Gallagher are true, its is fair to ask how will the Lisbon treaty deal with such corruption… or can we assume that it won’t and the failures in dealing with their accession in the EU will be replicated in any future EU enlargement process.

It adds up to just one more reason to go back to the drawing board and negotiate a new EU treaty… A better deal is possible!