Ireland

Cowen tells Greens to read Treaty of Nice

A 'Yes' vote in the Nice Treaty referendum will guarantee the collapse of Ireland's neutrality and the Government is misleading…

Clodagh Mulvey
Tue May 08 2001 - 01:00

A 'Yes' vote in the Nice Treaty referendum will guarantee the collapse of Ireland's neutrality and the Government is misleading the public on the matter, according to the Green Party.

But the Minister for Foreign Affairs said the Greens "would have been better served if they had read the treat and the White Paper" before launching their campaign.

Mr Cowen said: "In 1992 the Greens said that the Maastricht Treaty would bring emigration and famine to Ireland. Nobody believed them then. They have no credibility today."

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There is no requirement for a UN mandate in the Nice Treaty. Brian Cowen knows exactly what the treaty means and that's why he doesn't want to come clean
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Ms Patricia McKenna MEP

Launching its 'No' vote campaign today the party said enlargement, which the Government says the Nice Treaty addresses, was already set out under the Amsterdam Treaty.

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Party leader Mr Trevor Sargent said it was "emotional blackmail" on the part of the Government to suggest that a vote against the treaty was a vote against enlargement, which he insisted "is not the case".

The Greens claim the purpose of this treaty is to bring about the militarisation of Europe via a rapid reaction force, which will end Ireland's position of neutrality.

However in a statement issued this evening, Mr Cowen said the Treaty was "intimately connected with enlargement and to state otherwise is simply misleading."

He said the consequences of a 'No' vote would be disastrous for Ireland and would leave Europe "even more divided than the Green Party is on the Treaty."

Ms Patricia McKenna MEP said assertions by the Government in its White Paper that Ireland's neutrality will be safeguarded by the requirement for a UN mandate for Irish soldiers to join the rapid reaction force were false.

She said: "There is no requirement for a UN mandate in the Nice Treaty. Brian Cowen knows exactly what the treaty means and that's why he doesn't want to come clean".

Mr Sargent said militarisation of the EU was being copper-fastened by the Nice Treaty and said Mr Cowen and previous ministers for foreign affairs had "rubbished" the party's concerns on the issue in the past.

He added: "The Government is misleading the public. It's about time they were honest".