Green senator accused of U-turn on Lisbon treaty

SPEAKING at a Sinn Féin-organised conference on the EU constitution in 2005, Deirdre de Búrca called for its rejection on the grounds that it “only addresses the EU’s democratic deficit in a limited way”.

Imagine my surprise when the same Deirdre de Búrca (Letters, February 11) said the “Lisbon treaty does take certain important steps in the direction of addressing the EU’s democratic deficit”.

The Green party senator says the Council of Ministers will now meet in public. This is true and a good thing, but it was in the constitution she opposed. She welcomes the formal role for member state parliaments in monitoring draft EU legislation.