Strasbourg Plenary Session (23/2/08)

Last week’s plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg was dominated, for the Irish MEPs at any rate, by a report supporting the Lisbon Treaty.The report listed reasons to adopt the treaty, claiming it would enhance the EU’s democratic accountability, better protect citizen’s rights and improve the functioning of EU institutions. It also urged member states to ratify the treaty by the end of this year, to pave the way for the European elections in June 2009. The report got a ringing endorsement from the Parliament, with 525 votes in favour to 115 against. 11 out of the 13 Irish MEPs supported the vote, with Sinn Féin MEP Mary Lou McDonald and Independent MEP Kathy Sinnott leading the charge for the anti-treaty campaign. Proceedings were made slightly more colourful than usual by the fifty-odd MEPs wearing bright yellow sweaters with the logo ‘Too chicken for a referendum?’ in protest at the fact that no other country except Ireland is allowing its people to vote on the Lisbon Treaty. Outside the parliament chambers in Strasbourg, a handful of members of the UK Independence Party dressed in life-size chicken costumes, for which they were reprimanded by security staff and by President Hans-Gert Poettering himself, who said ‘If your parents could see you, they would be ashamed.’ Inside the chamber, Sinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald, Unionist MEP Jim Allister and the British Independent MEPs made what Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness described as ‘strange bedfellows’ as they spoke eloquently against the treaty and applauded each others speeches. UK Independent MEP Nigel Farage accused the parliament of ‘running scared’ by not providing more referendums, citing French President Nicolas Sarkozy who openly confessed his fears that if a referendum was held in France, it would be rejected. France and Holland voted against the EU constitution two years ago, and Sarkozy admitted recently: ‘France was just ahead of all the other countries in voting no. It would happen in all member states if they have a referendum. There is a cleavage between people and governments. A referendum now would bring Europe into danger. There will be no Treaty if we had a referendum in France, which would again be followed by a referendum in the UK.’
Whatever eurosceptism or other agendas may be driving the UK Independents and other anti-treaty campaigners, they do seem to have a point about the absence of referendums. Surely it should be up to the people in every member state to decide whether or not to ratify the treaty? In this matter, the 4.5 million Irish electorate bears the weight of responsibility of deciding on the treaty on behalf of some 450 million voters across the EU. But this in itself is not a reason to vote yes or no.
One key concern of the No campaign is a perceived threat to Irish neutrality. The Lisbon Treaty would give a legal base to EU battle groups, rapid reaction forces that can be deployed within days to trouble spots around the globe. The government claims that our neutrality is protected under the triple lock policy, by which Irish troops cannot serve abroad without the approval of the Dáil, the Cabinet and the UN Security Council. Yet those against the treaty claim our participation in battle groups (which began last week when the first of some 450 Irish soldiers left to join the EU peacekeeping mission in Chad) represents the first signs of picking at the triple lock arrangement.
The government has further moved to allay fears of any compromise to our neutrality by proposing several constitutional provisions alongside the treaty in the referendum, one of which will declare that Ireland will not be part of any common European defence arrangements. Sinn Féin has seized on this as evidence of the government’s ‘turnaround’ on the issue, and has queried whether the proposed measures will in fact copperfasten our neutrality, or whether they are simply ‘cosmetic’, given that a similar proposal was contained in the Nice Treaty. The Dáil is due to debate the neutrality question next week.