Cowen defends second Nice referendum

Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen has defended the Government’s decision to re-run the referendum on the Nice Treaty, even though it was rejected by 54% of Irish voters last year.

In a speech in Dublin this morning, Mr Cowen said the Government is not ignoring the outcome of last year’s vote, but believes the treaty is so important that it has decided to re-run the referendum in the hope of securing a positive result.

The minister also said that the Government has acted to change the context in which the vote will take place by seeking a declaration that the treaty will not erode Ireland’s military neutrality.

Opponents of the Nice Treaty have accused the Government of acting with arrogance and contempt for democracy by seeking to overturn last year’s ‘no’ vote.

They argued last year that the treaty was fundamentally flawed because it increased the power of larger states and reduced the power of smaller states in an enlarged European Union.

It also removed Ireland’s automatic entitlement to nominate a European Commissioner and allowed for separate groupings of member states to form their own alliances on important issues without consulting their EU partners.

Supporters of military neutrality were angry because it committed Ireland to the European Rapid Reaction Force, effectively a European army.