Lisbon Treaty not the answer to economic crisis

I WONDERED how long it would be before someone started telling us that because of the recession we needed to sign up for the Lisbon Treaty.

Sure enough, a recent survey promoting this idea was given prominent treatment by some media.

Look at Iceland, we’re told. If only it had been in the EU, it would have been told how to get to grips with its economic crisis.

Not so fast there — by last year Iceland had put itself in debt to the tune of seven times its GNP. It does not take an economist to see this was madness.

The causes of this recession are deep-seated, and one important reason is the very globalisation and centralisation the Lisbon Treaty promotes.

When one important organisation makes a mistake, it can drag down others with it.

This is one of the key arguments against over-centralisation. It is efficient (perhaps) while things go well, but in the inevitable case of a mistake, the repercussions are far worse than they ought to be.

Secondly, it is the over-regulation of European banks by endless EU directives that hamstrung them to the point where they could not maintain liquidity.

Ireland as a whole is very much for a strong Europe. But we will not be blackmailed or panicked into signing up for this treaty, which is a power-grab disguising itself as a step forward for Europe. The step forward is to look at the current mess and devise a more stable arrangement than the unaccountable top-heavy structure that Lisbon is designed to set in place.

Micheál Ó Fearghail

‘Loreto’

Sallybrook House

Glanmire

Co Cork