Farmers for No claims that the Lisbon Treaty will affect Irish inheritance laws is a baseless

Brian Crowley MEP, and a member of the legal affairs committee in the European Parliament today said that " recent claims by the Farmers for No group that the Lisbon Treaty will affect Irish inheritance laws is a baseless allegation that has no foundation under the terms of the Lisbon Treaty.

This allegation must not be allowed go uncorrected.

The bottom line is that the EU institutions only have the powers to bring forward new laws in policy areas given to it under the EU treaties. This principle is known as the doctrine of conferral.

The Lisbon Treaty does not give any new powers whatsoever to the European Commission, the European Parliament or to the European Council to bring forward laws that could affect or change Irish inheritance laws.

Irish inheritance laws are governed by the Succession Act 1965, by amending legislation and by subsequent Irish case law.

Inheritance laws are a matter for each of the 27 different national member states of the European Union to deal with in accordance with their own specific national laws. This is a very complex and sensitive policy area that is dealt with by each individual EU member state alone."