Tory MEP: Lisbon ratification can wait[fr][de] 

"Our hope is they wil not ratify the treaty until the general elections in the United Kingdom," said Van Orden, a founding member of the newly-formed European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European Parliament. 

The ECR group was founded after the British Conservatives pulled out of the European People's Party in the aftermath of the European elections in June.

Van Orden reckons general elections will take place no later than next June, probably next May.

"If there is a general election [in the UK], the probability is that the Conservative party would win that election, and that it would give the British people a referendum [on the Lisbon Treaty]. I have no doubt what the answer of the British people on the Lisbon Treaty will be," added van Orden, casting a long shadow over the ratification of a treaty which is supposed to make the Union work more efficiently after the accession of 12 new member states since 2004.

The Irish people are called to the ballot box on 2 October to hold a second vote on the Lisbon Treaty, which they rejected in a referendum in June last year.

Speaking ahead of a vote on the re-election of José Manuel Barroso as president of the European Commission, van Orden said the ECR had mixed feelings about the former Portuguese prime minister "because naturally [...] he is committed to this whole European integration project, which we have very strong reservations about," he said.

"My view is the Commission should do less, better. It churns out too much regulation, a lot of the regulation is unhelpful, particularly in the present economic climate," van Orden pointed out. 

But he stressed the group liked Barroso "for his commitment to reform of the economic situation, and the need to invest more in research and development [and] improve competitiveness."

During the ECR hearing with Barroso, the group was unanimous in telling him "we hear a lot about the Lisbon Treaty, but not so much about the Lisbon agenda, the ambitious plan to make the EU the most knowledge-based economy by the year 2010, and 2010 is next year," van Orden said.

"So I would like to think he will be willing to focus on the economically helpful, as in the past we think the Commission has been rather a brake on economic progress. So, on the basis of his record, his background, what he said to us, we will support him," he concluded.

To read the interview in full, please click here.