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national | miscellaneous | news report Monday October 07, 2002 22:06 by tony blair - house of uncommons

positive article in Guardian about militancy and Nice etc

'No to Nice' protest gathers pace

Nicola Byrne, Dublin
Sunday September 9, 2001
The Observer

Irish campaigners against the Nice Treaty on enlarging the European Union are planning a huge convention in Dublin just 48 hours after a government 'forum on Europe' is due to begin.
The campaigners will meet to plan their strategy for an expected second referendum on Nice early next year. Delegates representing up to 100 groups are due to attend.

The umbrella Peace and Neutrality Alliance (Pana) said it believed the Irish government was planning a second vote at the same time as the next general election.

A study by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), published last month, predicted this was the only way a second embarrassing defeat on the issue could be avoided.

The EIU predicts that though the government may have preferred to hold the two polls separately to avoid complicating the issue, 'there is now a 60 per cent chance that the two polls will be held simultaneously'.

The Irish government is still hoping that its forum on Europe will begin work on 20 September. However, objections by the Fine Gael leader, Michael Noonan, concerning the forum's remit, suggest further delays.

Under a deal made with EU leaders in July, the government must hold a national debate on the future of Europe. However, Noonan believes the forum will be little more than a 'talking shop', which will not address Irish people's 'very real concerns' about the treaty.

The anti-Nice convention will run on minimal funding. However, organisers said a second 'no' campaign was already attracting considerable support.

'If anything, people are more concerned than ever about Nice. The government's arrogance last time around has really backfired on them,' said Roger Cole, Pana chairman.

Volunteers have contacted the Green Party and Pana to offer their services, and activists are predicting a second ballot could produce a no vote of around 65 per cent.

The meeting will take place in the offices of the Dublin union, MSF. Opponents of the Nice Treaty in other European countries will be invited to attend.

EU analysts have said the treaty will not survive another no vote from Ireland and have admitted to being worried about the way Bertie Ahern's Cabinet has handled the issue. The European Policy Centre in Brussels said earlier this summer that 'the Irish electorate appears to be growing more militant'.

One of the key purposes of the government's new forum will be to encourage more people to vote. June's turn-out, 34.8 per cent, was Ireland's lowest for a European election.