Fears for Lisbon vote prompt delay in EU law
The Irish Times
JAMIE SMYTH in Brussels
Wed, May 20, 2009
INHERITANCE: THE EUROPEAN Commission has delayed a proposal to enable the EU-wide recognition of inheritance claims for fear of upsetting Irish voters ahead of a second Lisbon referendum.
The draft legislation is intended to cope with the increasingly common situation whereby EU citizens live in one country with certain inheritance rules, but they own property in other EU states.
It proposes to introduce common rules for member states to follow on which law should be used to judge such cross-border inheritance claims.
If the Government opted in to the measure, it could ultimately enable foreign laws to be implemented in Irish courts, which is a particularly sensitive issue for the legal profession.
“It was felt that the proposal was too sensitive in the lead-up to the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, which is expected to be held in the autumn. So it was delayed,” one EU diplomat told The Irish Times yesterday.
Senior commission officials, including secretary general Catherine Day, are understood to have pulled the proposal in the spring.
The commission’s 2009 work programme initially proposed that the draft law would be published in March before being sent to the Council of Ministers for debate.
The decision to delay the proposal follows a similar move last year to quietly drop the commission’s controversial proposal to harmonise the corporate tax base in the EU.
This plan was seized on by No campaigners during the first Lisbon referendum and portrayed as a key threat to Ireland’s tax sovereignty even though the Government could choose to opt out of it.
The proposal on recognition of inheritance claims is controversial because it relates to family law, another area where Ireland is seeking specific guarantees related to the treaty.
The European Voice said the draft law could potentially have enabled relatives to “claw back” property or items given away by the deceased during their lifetime – a mechanism allowed under many EU states’ succession laws, but precluded by Irish and UK law.
According to commission estimates, the proposed legislation would affect about 450,000 successions every year.
Rules on which national law should apply in cross-border succession cases vary: some EU states follow the principle that the law should be determined by the nationality of the deceased, while others apply the law of the state where the deceased lived.
A Government spokeswoman said last night the Government had nothing to do with the commission’s decision to withdraw the proposal.
A commission spokesman also denied that the delay was due to the Irish referendum.
However, several EU diplomats confirmed the story, with one noting that everyone was focused on ensuring that potential landmines were avoided in the run-up to the autumn referendum, which will decide the fate of the treaty.
This matter was also reported in the European Voice 14th May 2009.
JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS Inheritance
Irish treaty vote puts inheritance law on hold
14.05.2009
Commission fears negative Irish reactions over law on inheritance.
Plans for EU-wide recognition of inheritance claims have fallen victim to Ireland's projected second referendum on the Lisbon treaty. The European Commission has postponed a controversial plan to have wills and inheritance claims recognised across member states until after the Irish referendum, expected in the autumn.
Both Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Catherine Day, the secretary-general, requested that the proposal be put on hold, for fear of negative reactions in the Irish Republic on the sensitive matter of family inheritance ahead of the crucial referendum.
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