Why the Cork WP still say NO to the Treaty of Nice

national | miscellaneous | news report Sunday October 06, 2002 22:16 by stick and stones

still saying NO

Why we still say NO to the Treaty of Nice
Your Questions Answered



Q. Is The Workers' Party anti-European and does it advocate leaving the European Union?
A. Absolutely not. But we want a different type of Europe, one that is democratic and accountable and which European citizens can relate to, not just a Europe for big business and economic interests alone.

Q. If Ireland votes NO again will we be delaying European enlargement, i.e. stopping Eastern European contries from joining the EU?
A. No. At least five of the applicant countries could join immediately under the normal negotiations, just as ireland did.

Q. If you oppose the Nice Treaty are you opposed to EU enlargement.
A. No. Some years ago The Workers' Party used the phrase a "Europe united from the Urals to the Atlantic".

Q. But wouldn't we be bad Europeans by voting No and going against the rest of Europe?
A. Not at all. Ireland is the only country which has put the Nice Treaty to a referendum for approval by its citizens. By voting No we would be doing other European citizens a favour by forcing the European goverments to go back to the drawing board, to renegotiate the Treaty and to give citizens a say in how the European Union should develop and grow.

Q. Why is The Workers' Party opposed to the Nice Treaty?
A. A number of reasons. The Nice Treaty changes the structure of the European Union. It will not be a union of equals. More power will go to the bigger countries. When membership reaches 27 we will lose our automatic right to a commissioner which we have had since Ireland joined in 1973. It is a bad deal for smaller countries like Ireland. It also increases the militarisation of the EU by moving closer to a European army and involvement in a European Rapid Reaction Force. Nice also forces right-wing economic policies like privatisation on us. We can expect to see privatisation become more pervasive and public services are likely to be attaked, including health and education. This policy has been a disaster in outher countries and Ireland already has paid a high price for privatisation. (e.g. Eircom, Irish Steel, Irish Fertilisers, Erin Foods).

Q. But surely the government has now got assurances from other European countries that our neutrality is safe and that we are exempt from any military actions?
A. The Seville Declaration on neutrality has no constitutional or legal standing. It is not worth the paper it is written on. They can change their minds next week if they want and anyway new European leaders in the future could take a different view. Ireland already has army personnell at NATO headquarters in Brussels and was brought into NATOs mis-named Partnership for Peace without a referendum. The Nice Treaty further militarises the EU by absorbing the Western European Union - a military pact.

Q. But isn't the Seville Declaration now law?
A. No. The Seville Declaration has absolutely no international status. This is shown clearly by the fact that not one of our EU partners have even debated this declaration in their parliaments never mind legally adopting it.

Q. What's the difference between this referendum and the one we had last year?
A. No Difference. It is exactly the same Treaty which has already been democratically rejected by the Irish people. The government claims that voters were misinformed and unaware of basic things the last time. Given what we now know about the real state of the economy that sounds like a good reason to re-run the General Election. Also recent surveys show that only 16% of the Irish people have a real understanding of the Treaty of Nice. This is because the government's information campaign amounts to no more than a propaganda campaign wasting millions of Euro of taxpayers money.

Q. But surely if we vote No again we will get thrown out of Europe or at least we will be looked on very badly by our European partners.
A. Part of the governments tactics is to scare people and make us feel that by voting No we are selfish and conservative. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ireland can not be thrown out of the EU or even relegated to second class if we vote No. In fact the only thing that can reduce Ireland's status within the EU is the Treaty of Nice itself.

Q. But the newspapers, radio, television, the experts and even the trade union leaders all tell us we must vote Yes.
A. That's true but they said the same last time. There are many vested interests that would like to see the EU acting even more in favour of big business and the establishment. Most of these interests favour low pay for workers and support the capitalist system. As for the unions it is clear that there are many in the leadership who are totally out of touch with the rank and file trade unionists and workers. Trade union members were not consulted when their leaders decided to support the Nice Treaty. The only say they can have on that issue and the only say YOU can have is in the referendum on Saturday, 19th October.

For further information or if you would like to help us with leafletting / postering please contact us at:-

The Workers' Party
Thomas Ashe Hall
15 Father Mathew Quay
Cork.
Tel: 4270409
Fax: 4270446
E-mail: wpcork@eircom.net