Government considers ending EU peacekeeping role

THE Government is considering pulling the defence forces out of EU peacekeeping duties in a bid to win acceptance of the Lisbon treaty and end any concerns about conscription.

Foreign Minister Micheál Martin indicated this was one option under consideration in response to findings that a significant number of Irish voters rejected the treaty because they feared conscription to a European army.

The EU does not have an army but member states co-operate in peacekeeping duties as part of the union’s defence policy.

Ireland has participated in several of these including in Kosovo, Bosnia, Congo and now in Chad — where the operation is under Irish command.

Asked if the Government was considering opting out of the EU defence policy, Mr Martin said: “All options following the decision of the people on Lisbon are being considered.”

Officials from his department and from the attorney-general’s office have visited Copenhagen to see how the Danish opt-out from defence worked, said Mr Martin.

But the Danes also told them that they considered the opt-out a mistake and hope to reverse the decision taken in 1992 when they rejected the Maastricht treaty.

“We are very mindful of the Danish experience. In hindsight it has not turned out to be the most advantageous from their perspective... we have to explore all options,” he said.

Even though the Lisbon treaty does not provide in any way for conscription, Mr Martin said it shows that people have concerns about military defence and the Government has to find a way to deal with this.

“We have already taken strong positions in terms of defence and military neutrality, but we will try to tease this out and see where it leads us,” he said.

Personally, he would not like to see Ireland’s defence forces pulled out of EU peacekeeping operations — which are all at the UN’s request.

“Our defence forces have played a noble role down the years and people, I think, appreciate that,” he said. Mr Martin, who was attending a meeting with fellow EU foreign ministers in Avignon, said he would prefer Ireland to be as fully engaged as possible.

“Isolation is no longer the route forward,” he said, adding that countries were now all interdependent and policies from the economy to security intertwined.

Government-commissioned research conducted over the past few weeks shows people rejected the treaty for reasons that include fear of military conscription to economic and social- ethical reasons, such as abortion.

Taoiseach Brian Cowan will inform his fellow EU leaders of the results of the research at their next summit in mid-October, but it could be December before the Government tells them of their next steps to win approval for the treaty.

By then all EU countries are expected to have ratified the treaty and, with European Parliament elections pending in June and the heads for the various institutions being appointed, they will be anxious to know whether the Lisbon or current Nice treaty rules will apply.