Yes to Nice will only make us smaller fish in a bigger pond
1 An Irish YES vote will allow enlargement to take place on schedule in January 2004.
2 Enlargement offers opportunities for Ireland to make new allies in Europe and create new jobs at home.
3 An Irish No vote would delay enlargement.
4 Following another NO vote Ireland would lose influence in Europe and our ability to negotiate would be damaged.
As regards 1 and 3 (which is merely a variation of 1), this is what Romano Prodi, President European Commission had to say in June 2001:
“Legally, ratification of the Nice Treaty is not necessary for enlargement.
“It’s without any problem up to 20 members [Treaty of Amsterdam], and those beyond 20 members have only to put in the accession agreement some notes of change, some clause.
“But legally, it’s not necessary. This doesn’t mean the Irish Referendum isn’t important. But from this specific point of view, enlargement is possible without Nice.”
This is what Valery Giscard d’Estaing President of the Convention on the Future of Europe had to say recently in Denmark on the possibility of a second No vote:
“The solution will not be to ignore the vote, but to handle the situation. Probably it requires taking what is needed from the Nice Treaty necessary to carry through the enlargement.”
Presumably, enlargement beyond 20 members is what he meant.
As regards 2 and 4, what is the point of making new allies who will be just as powerless as ourselves in the face of “the democratic deficit” that is at the heart of the decision-making in Europe? Nice is bringing in further centralisation with the removal of the right of veto on vital national interests in 30 new areas including structural and cohesion funding, and the choosing of commissioners. The power imbalance between the smaller states and larger states is being reinforced.
Ireland is set to lose three of its 15 MEPs in the European Parliament if Nice is ratified, so that we will have only 12 out of 732. On the Council of Ministers we currently have three votes out of 87. After ratification this would become seven votes out of 345. With the advent of qualified majority voting in a whole range of new areas, Ireland will have no influence in decision-making. At times we would be without any representation on the Commission at all, and no input on vital national issues.
Whether Irish capital flows to the cheap labour markets of Eastern Europe or their workers come here, jobs will be lost to Irish people who are not prepared to accept low wages.
John O’Hanlon,
22, Sandford Ave,
Dublin 8.
