Mary Harney congratulated Sile de Valera (Irish Times, Wednesday) for provoking a debate on Ireland's future in Europe, while Bertie Ahern is reported as being disappointed that his (private) speech to the Institute of European Affairs in March did not generate follow-up debate.
These are Government leaders who treat the Irish people with particular contempt when it comes to European issues. Both reneged on a solemn promise to the Irish people to hold a referendum on the Partnership for Peace. Both have allowed only one major Dail debate on Europe; last April on a report adopted by the European Affairs Committee in October 1998. Both have refused to produce a White Paper on Europe. And, both have refused to confirm that they will hold a referendum on the outcome of the current treaty revision negotiations that are due to finish in December.
Whatever the reasons for Sile de Valera's solo run, it is the substance of her comments, and the Taoiseach and Tanaiste's response to them, that give rise to real concern about this Government's approach to Europe.
By outlining her opposition to further integration, Sile de Valera clearly reveals that she does not understand what the current inter-governmental conference is about - to prepare for enlargement. It is blindingly obvious that institutions and procedures originally designed for six countries have to be updated if they are to work democratically and effectively for 25-plus countries and half a billion people.
Mary Harney says the major economic gain for Ireland in Europe has been our access to the single market. This market did not just fall into place but took literally years of negotiations in Brussels based on complex and cumbersome decision-making procedures.
Sile de Valera's warning that we have to be more vigilant about Europe is true. Ireland's role in Europe is changing and we will have to be much more proactive on a wider range of issues than before. But this advice is extraordinary coming from a Minister who has missed four of the last five meetings of culture ministers and whose last official attendance at council was in November 1998.
Is she suggesting that Ireland becomes a semi-detached member of the EU? The UK's semi-detachment under Thatcher and Major was disastrous for them.
Sile de Valera might be taken more seriously if she was on record as seeking to ensure that her Government lives up to its EU commitments. Her Government has an appalling record when it comes to implementing legislation agreed to by Ireland, particularly covering water standards, the environment and worker protection.
Indeed, Ms de Valera herself has already been warned by the Commission that her failure to comply with habitats legislation is putting Ireland's future allocation of EU funds at risk.
Her statement that EU directives and regulations can impinge on our identity, culture and traditions is surprising for someone who spent five years as an MEP and three as a member of the Council of Ministers. Does she not really understand how the EU works? Or is she (more likely) being disingenuous?
Ireland has the right to vote on each and every piece of EU legislation proposed by the Commission, either at council level or through the advisory committees that assist the Commission. We don't always get our way with every piece of European legislation but, then again, no country does. We also have 15 MEPs (including six Fianna Fail ones) acting as watchdogs from various political perspectives.
Her claim that further integration runs counter to the Government's so-called decentralisation policy shows that she confuses moving a few hundred civil servants out of Dublin with giving people control over decisions that affect their lives.
There also seems to be Government confusion about European integration. Everyone who is serious about European integration knows that in a globalising world, where states are losing power and control to unaccountable multinational corporations, we need to recover democratic control at an transnational level.
To muddy the water by, on the one hand, holding up the US as a shining example of what we should aspire to (Mary Harney) and, on the other hand, warning about the dire consequences of establishing a United States of Europe (Sile de Valera) is not exactly helpful to a rational debate.
I believe there is a need for closer integration on equality, solidarity, social policy, the environment, consumer protection, and peace and security among others.
At the PDs conference in 1996, Mary Harney warned that the "lunacy" of the then pending working time directive would undermine Irish competitiveness. What has happened since then? We remain one of the most competitive economies in Europe.
What is perhaps most alarming about Sile de Valera and Mary Harney's comments is that both reflect a frightening amount of dogma as a substitute for critical thinking about Europe. Mary Harney repeatedly speaks about "job-destroying policies which are keeping millions of people on the dole right across continental Europe". Recent developments at EU level seem to be passing her by. What is she doing at council meetings?
Building on the creation of the single market and the introduction of the single currency over the last decade and the current favourable economic climate, the EU Council of Ministers in Lisbon last March set itself a new strategic goal for the next decade - to turn Europe into "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion".
This was agreed to by Mary Harney. Does she not know this? As she is currently in charge of employment policy for this State, shouldn't we be worried? Is Mary Harney saying that she opposes the new social agenda launched by the Commission in June which enjoys wide support among the social partners in Ireland? If that is what her remarks mean, then we need to know this now.
There is now a consensus that Europe has to tackle fundamental economic structural problems and, in order to do this, it has to tackle fundamental social structural problems. On July 7th, when authorising the EU's contribution to the 2000-06 National Development Plan, the Commission pointed out that Ireland was now second to Luxembourg in GDP per head.
As Europe evolves and as Ireland's role within it changes, we need to be much more thoughtful and proactive about how best our interests are articulated and advanced. For Sile de Valera (and Mary Harney) to string together a set of simplistic cliches about a "United States of Europe" and EU regulations impinging on Ireland's identity shows the extent to which this Government is detached from European thinking and cannot be relied upon to represent Ireland's interests in Europe.
Some 13 central and Eastern European countries have applied to join the EU because they want to avail of the opportunities that Ireland has benefited from over the last 25 years. For this to happen, however, the union has to be reformed and democratised. For this Government to consider opposing the further integration of Europe is an appalling dereliction of Ireland's responsibilities, and best interests, in Europe.
Proinsias De Rossa is an MEP, president of the Labour Party and vice-president of the Parliament Group of the Party of European Socialists
