LONDON — Only 16 months after rejecting it the first time, voters in Ireland have overwhelmingly approved a wide-ranging treaty to overhaul how the European Union is run and to give the 27-nation body a more forceful presence on the world stage, returns showed Saturday.
And the biggest winner may turn out to be someone who couldn't even vote: former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is the hot favorite to become the EU's first president under the new system, which would vault him firmly back into the international limelight that he basks in.
Returns in Ireland the day after voters went to the polls showed the so-called Lisbon Treaty passing with 67% approval. It was a stunning turnaround of the treaty's defeat in a referendum in June 2008, when 53% of voters rejected it.
At the time, many Irish, awash in confidence amid their country's economic boom, saw the proposed revisions to the European constitution as infringements on their sovereignty, changes they believed would give the EU undue power over Ireland's tax policy, military neutrality and ban on abortion, among other issues.
But a year later, the Celtic Tiger is whimpering. The global recession has hurt Ireland more than most other countries, wiping out much of the economic gains of the last several years and sending thousands of people to the unemployment lines.
Belief and gratitude that EU membership shielded Ireland from worse economic harm pushed skeptics of the treaty into the arms of the "Yes" camp, analysts say. So did an energetic campaign to explain the merits of the complex treaty, abetted by pitches from business leaders, cultural figures and celebrities.
And written guarantees that the pact would not trump national policy in sensitive areas helped assure those who had worried over a loss of sovereignty.
"The collapse of the economy between the two votes was the most significant factor in changing Irish people's minds, because it became clear that their membership in the euro protected them from financial collapse," said Hugo Brady, a senior analyst with the London-based Center for European Reform.
"This was not a vote on the treaty text itself," he said. "This was a vote on whether or not Ireland is a happy member of the EU and sees its future in the EU. . . . It was existential."
The reversal of fortune was greeted with relief and jubilation by the beleaguered Irish government. Nearly all of Ireland's political parties favor the accord, and its defeat last year was a major embarrassment for the political establishment.
