WHEN THE statesmen of Europe agreed to enlarge the 15-member European Union to a possible 27 nations, they provided that, in the future, no little nation could thwart the will of all.
The change from unanimity to weighted majority rule was one of the compromises worked out last December in the Treaty of Nice. It changes the EU's institutions and writes the rules for considering 12 applicants from Eastern and Central Europe.
All that remains is ratification, by the predictable parliaments of 14 member nations, and by unpredictable referendum in Ireland. With this done by 2002, the EU would invite the first new members - probably Hungary, Poland and Slovenia - to join the customs union with shared economic governance by 2005.
But this great movement of history is not to be. At least, not so fast. The Irish went to speedy ratification. The referendum was held last Thursday. Only one-third of Irish voters bothered to turn out.
Of those, 54 percent voted against the Treaty of Nice, against enlarging the EU, against further Europeanizing of Ireland, against the broad march of history.
The establishment favored ratification. Strange bedfellows were against: republican Sinn Feiners (Sinn Fein means "We Ourselves"); farmers who want to receive subsidies, not give them; neutralists fearing defense obligations; provincials fearing un-Irish immigration; and pure contrarians.
The 12 designated applicant countries are going through painful economic reforms to qualify. This rejection angers them.
As for Ireland, its striking modernization and robust economy flow from its own break from isolation three decades ago. Now this beneficiary blackballs new club members. It is so embarrassing.
The statesmen of Europe agree that the treaty will not be renegotiated. Ireland promises to bring it to referendum again with more push next year. Many Irish voters object to that. Let no one count those votes before they are cast.
