Assuming that is right, expect to see a big increase in appeals to the one bit of the European machine where unanimity will remain the rule: the European Council, which gathers together the 27 national leaders of the EU. Under Lisbon the European Council is to gain a semi-permanent president, to replace the system of rotating presidencies.

ECONOMIST: The EU after the Irish vote

Euro wonks will be further affronted that the British sought a veto on specific financial regulations, two decades after the unanimity rule was booted out of the single market by none other than Margaret Thatcher.

ECONOMIST: The European Union and the euro