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Legal guarantees on the right to life of the unborn given to Ireland ahead of the second vote on the Lisbon Treaty will have the full force of European law as a result of Croatia’s vote to join the EU. Following the rejection of the treaty by the Irish people in the first referendum, the Fianna Fáil-Green Party government obtained a guarantee that nothing in the Charter of Fundamental Rights could affect the articles of the Constitution of Ireland which deal with the right to life (Article 40.3.1), the protection of the family (Article 41) and the protection of rights in respect of education (Articles 42, 44.2.4 and 44.2.5).
 
The guarantees were contained in a new international treaty which was legally binding on all 27 member states of the EU. However, now that Croatia has voted to join the EU, the guarantees will be added as a protocol to the Croatian Accession Treaty. The main difference between an international treaty and a protocol to an EU treaty is that an international treaty, while binding on the signatories, does not have an enforcement mechanism. An EU treaty and any protocol to it becomes part of EU law and is enforceable by the European Court of Justice in the same way as other EU laws.
The Irish Catholic. January 26.