Treaty key to having permanent role on commission

THE key to Ireland retaining a commissioner is to ratify the Lisbon treaty, because, under the current treaty, it is quite probable Ireland will not have one, said president of the European Parliament Hans Gert Pottering.

If giving every country its own commissioner was what was required to get the Lisbon treaty ratified then that is what must happen, he said at the start of the EU summit considering Ireland’s list of requirements.

“It is ironic that, if Nice exists, Ireland quite probably will not have a commissioner. If Lisbon is in force, it’s possible that Ireland can have one,” he said.

He severely criticised the Government’s first referendum campaign and said any rerun of the Lisbon treaty referendum in Ireland should be taken more seriously than the first.

The campaign was neglected first time around, and people took the referendum too lightly, he told a press conference after addressing the EU leaders meeting.

“People have a right to know what we are talking about and people need not do it so glibly as some of the posters suggested: ‘if you do not know, vote no’ for instance.

“The dialogue was not serious enough,” he said, everyone should learn from the mistakes of the past.

“Irish society, including Irish politicians, should take Ireland’s future in Europe very seriously,” he said.

Mr Pottering said the special Oireachtas sub-committee on Europe had concluded it was in Ireland’s interest to play an important role in Europe.

“Ireland can play a far greater role in the EU than you might expect, given the size of the population.”

He added that nobody was trying to tell Ireland what to do.

“Ireland has to decide that for itself. Ireland is a great nation,” he added.

However, the Lisbon treaty was a priority for the EU.

“Europe needs to decide on our future, our values and interests and we do not want other people to decide for us – we have to represent our own values and interests,” he said.