* Over two-thirds of voters endorse the treaty
* Ireland's "Yes" turns spotlight on Warsaw and Prague
* Result seen marginally positive for euro currency
* Irish debt yield spreads should tighten by 5-10 bps
(Recasts with official results)
By Darren Ennis and Andras Gergely
DUBLIN, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Irish voters overwhelmingly
endorsed the European Union's Lisbon reform treaty, results
showed on Saturday, putting the bloc's ambitions for greater
global influence firmly back on track.
In a reversal of last year's "No" vote, more than two-thirds
of voters backed the charter, which gives the 27-country bloc a
long-term president and stronger foreign policy chief.
"Today the Irish people have spoken with a clear and
resounding voice," Prime Minister Brian Cowen told reporters
from the steps of his office in Dublin. "It is a good day for
Ireland and it is a good day for Europe."
The result is a relief for Cowen, who would have been likely
to lose his job had it gone the other way. His centre-left
coalition has lost its technical majority in parliament and is
suffering in opinion polls. []
In a hard-fought campaign, the government, business leaders
and even celebrities had said a second rejection risked
isolating Ireland while it relied on the goodwill of the
European Central Bank and foreign investors to pull out of one
of the worst recessions in Europe.
The argument appeared to work. Final results showed only two
constituencies out of 43 voting "No", and middle-class
communities came out strongly in favour of the charter.
Turnout at 59 percent was also healthy for an EU referendum
in Ireland and comfortably above the 53 percent seen last year.
"We are in a very difficult economic position and this is an
essential first step towards economic recovery," Finance
Minister Brian Lenihan said.
THANK YOU IRELAND
The Irish approval turns the spotlight on Poland and the
Czech Republic, whose eurosceptic leaders are now the only
obstacle to the treaty being implemented across the EU.
"Thank you Ireland," a smiling European Commission President
Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters in Brussels. He and other
European leaders urged the Polish and Czech presidents to sign
the treaty quickly.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski looked set to endorse the
pact within days. The position of Czech President Vaclav Klaus
was less clear even though the country's prime minister, Jan
Fischer, said Klaus was likely to bend to pressure and sign
after a pending court review. []
The treaty is designed to speed up decision-making in a bloc
that has transformed from a community of six countries based on
production of coal and steel to a bloc of half a billion people
stretching from the Atlantic to the eastern Mediterranean.
Its implementation, after over a year of cold storage
following Ireland's rejection in 2008, is expected to boost the
prospects for further enlargement and reinforce the bloc's image
as a global force in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
Analysts said Ireland's ratification would give the euro
currency a slight boost as hopes rise for the charter's
introduction before the end of the year.
Irish debt yield spreads should tighten by five to ten basis
points on Monday, analysts said, amid relief that the country's
links to Europe were emphatically endorsed.
Anti-treaty groups reacted with dismay.
"It's a decisive victory for the bully boys, the big money
men and the bureaucrats," said Nigel Farage, head of the main
eurosceptic grouping in the European Parliament. "Out of fear a
small country has been bullied into changing its mind."
