DEBATE ON TREATY:THE LISBON Treaty will make the European Union better equipped to deal with "real issues" affecting the lives of citizens, the Minister of State for European Affairs, Dick Roche, said yesterday.
He was speaking at a debate in which Libertas chairman Declan Ganley sharply criticised Tánaiste Mary Coughlan over remarks she made in recent days about the make-up of the European Commission.
The debate, organised by the European Movement, was held before an audience of more than 200 AIB employees in Dublin.
Mr Roche said the issues which the treaty would help the EU address in a better way included globalisation, energy security, global warming, cross-border crime, migration and asylum.
These were issues which were “too big to ignore and which cannot be resolved by any one country”.
The treaty, he said, would enhance the European Union’s democratic charter, increase the role of the national and EU parliaments and reform decision-making within EU institutions.
It would also strengthen the voice of the EU on the world stage, give legal effect the Charter of Fundamental Rights, set out the EU’s powers and limits “more clearly than ever” and give specific powers to the union to help combat cross-border crime.
“Most importantly, the treaty does all of this while respecting all of Ireland’s vital interests,” he said.
Mr Ganley, however, said fundamental questions had to be asked about the Government’s ability to negotiate the treaty when senior members of the Cabinet “do not understand how the EU Commission works”.
He was particularly critical of the Tánaiste, Ms Coughlan, who incorrectly said on two occasions in recent days that larger EU states have two commissioners, rather than one as is the case.
Mr Ganley said once was “a slip of the tongue”, but twice was “glaring incompetence”.
He said a second Cabinet Minister had made the same error this week at a public meeting in Dublin.