PES Manifesto

Yes for Europe!

Publié lundi 9 juin 2008 à 10h14
par Desmond O'Toole (vu 424 fois et 2 commentaires)

Dia dhaoibh a chairde agus fáilte ó Éireann! Hello to everyone and greetings from Dublin! I'm delighted to have been asked to blog this week from Ireland because this is the week that the Irish people vote in the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. During this week I will be reporting from the Labour Party campaign in Ireland and discussing the key themes and issues that we are addressing.

To begin, however, it might be useful if I sketch the background to this referendum. When we Irish people gave ourselves a Constitution (Bunreacht na hÉireann) in 1937 we determined that any changes to that Constitution could only be made with the explicit consent of the people in a referendum. As the Lisbon Treaty involves the transfer of a number of sovereign powers to the European Union the Irish people have to be consulted directly for that to happen.

Ireland has benefitted immensely from our membership of the EU. Our economy and infrastructure have grown rapidly in large part due to the Single Market and structural and cohesion funding. Our agriculture and rural communities have secured long-term success and security due to the Common Agricultural Policy and other farming supports. Our environmental and social policies have been greatly enhanced due to legislation from Brussels. But equally importantly, the Irish people have turned from a conservative, inward-looking people viewing the world through the filter of our long relationship with Britain to become a vibrant, confident, outward-looking people deeply committed to our place in Europe.

And that brings us to the Lisbon Treaty. The Labour Party is fighting the campaign on three main issues. Firstly, Lisbon ensures that the EU will speak and act more effectively in an increasingly complex and globalised world and will be better able to face the challenges and opportunities that this emerging world presents. Ireland, as a small country of four million people, needs to be part of an effective Union that reflects our shared values. Secondly, Lisbon delivers improvements to the democractic practices of the EU, including that for the first time our parliament (Oireachtas) will be directly consulted on legislative proposals made by the Commission. Finally, Lisbon strengthens the framework for the development of a Social Europe by giving the Charter of Fundamental Rights a legal basis in the Treaties and by encouraging the development of Social Partnership at EU level.

All of the parties in the Oireachtas are supporting the Lisbon Treaty with the exception of the ultra-nationalists in Sinn Féin. In addition, the treaty is supported by both the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the employers' confederations and the farming organisations. In opposition to Lisbon, by contrast, we have an exotic collection of organisations ranging from Sinn Féin and Left oppositionalists to fundamentalist Catholic bodies, the anti-war lobby and a quite sinister organisation with deep connections to the US military called Libertas.

In spite of the very positive track record that the EU has in Ireland and the overwhelming support that Irish people show for Europe in the Eurobarometer polls, the referendum campaign is a very close race. Latest opinion polls show contradictory results; either a 5% lead for the NO side or a 9% lead for the YES side. Over the next few days I'll be discussing some of the reasons for the closeness of this race and what that may mean for the longer-term engagement of citizens across the EU in the European project and the PES/PSE campaign at the next European Elections in 2009.

Until tomorrow ...

Editor's note: Check this video for the YES campaign on Ireland:

Tags: blogger of the week, traîté, UE