Supporters of a united Europe are put off by democratic deficit in the ruling structure

LIKE John Mallon (Letters, August 3), I too am fed up with the bullying tactics of those who suggest there will be severe consequences for Ireland if we do not vote for the Lisbon Treaty.

This is the kind of tiresome scaremongering we will doubtless hear from the Yes camp until the October vote.

I am pretty annoyed also that the EU Commission has pressurised the Government into having another vote on the rejected treaty.

This appears to illustrate a deep hostility to democracy by the unelected bureaucracy and big business elites in the EU.

There are many people, including me, who like the idea of a united Europe. What many of them do not like is the present undemocratic EU, with its commission that cannot be removed and was not eleced by the people. No doubt to be joined later by a similarly unelected president and foreign minister.

Neither do those who oppose an undemocratic EU like the idea of having a European Court of Justice (ECJ) that can hand down judgments that depress wages and worsen workers’ conditions under the pretext of supporting the free movement of labour – as happened when an Irish refuse collection company employed cheap labour from eastern Europe and then required its Irish employees to take a 49% wage cut and work longer hours or leave the job

Recently, following complaints of unfair competition from private providers in Dublin, the ECJ handed down a decision requiring local authorities to charge VAT on the services they provide. This could cover refuse collection, entry to swimming pools, parking, etc, and could raise prices by up to 21%.

This ruling contradicts the Government’s claim that it has a cast-iron guarantee Ireland will have full control over its taxation system.

The ruling will also create a race to the bottom as low-paid workers are brought in to undercut the wages and conditions of local authority workers. This will inevitably result in the privatisation of local authority services and will override local democracy.

Should local authorities go to the ECJ and complain about unfair competition from workers exploiting private companies, what would the court say ... that the free market, represented by our competition law must prevail? At the moment the EU is organised around the free market capitalist system. Anything else is unacceptable. This is why EU rules support a privatisation agenda – another reason why people like me who want a united Europe oppose this undemocratic EU and the Lisbon Treaty

I suspect that what many people want is an EU treaty drawn up with the active participation of all the people of Europe, and which gives every EU citizen of voting age the right to vote on it.

I believe this would inevitably result in a more democratic EU and one that is not wholly committed to the free market model that has brought Ireland and many other countries crisis after crisis.

But I suspect the unelected EU Commission and the free market-worshipping MEPs would never accept this kind of democracy in Europe unless the people of Europe made them do so.

Brian Abbott

Glencairn

Bishopstown Road

Cork