The demand for the addition of a protocol to the Treaty of Nice guaranteeing Irish neutrality was a question for the member-states, the President of the European Commission, Mr Romano Prodi, said in Dublin yesterday. However he added that neutrality had "nothing to do with Nice".
During the referendum campaign, some of the anti-Nice groups such as the Peace and Neutrality Alliance and Afri (Action from Ireland), had sought a protocol to exclude Ireland from participation in or payment for the EU's Rapid Reaction Force.
"The treaty has nothing to do with the Rapid Reaction Force," Mr Prodi told The Irish Times. Austria, a neutral country, had not posed this problem. "I really don't understand how you can make the link."
On the proposed Forum on Europe, he said it "must involve a lot of people" and there must be open debate on the relationship between Ireland and Europe. "It must go into the deep feeling of Irish people about Europe." Asked if he was surprised by the referendum result, he said: "All the information I had from all the sources in Ireland were of a strong majority in favour. So I was surprised."
He added: "Your newspaper published a lot of debate, with the clear sense of a strong majority," but this was not the point. "The reason for my trip here is to understand why there was a No vote." He now regretted making the statement that, in legal terms, enlargement could go ahead without the treaty. "Strictly, legally, there can be enlargement without ratification of 15 members," he said, but without the changes proposed in the treaty, an enlarged EU could not function. "If there is no reform, the bigger Europe cannot work. To make a bigger Europe, we must make the reform."
Asked if he was angry with the Government for conducting such a minimalist campaign in the referendum, he said: "No. I don't even know which [kind of] campaign they have conducted. I did not come here to analyse the campaign." He had come here "to listen and to see what to do in the future".
At a news conference earlier, he said the bulk of the problems raised by the anti-Nice groups "were not in any way connected with the Nice Treaty". There were problems of neutrality, abortion and identity which had nothing to do with Nice.
His impression was that the referendum result had "really shaken all Irish political society". The forum would be the main instrument for the ensuing debate. "In the last [few] months, thank God, the debate about Europe has multiplied by 10." He welcomed this debate, "even when it is not so favourable with the president of the Commission; this is democracy".
Responding to a question about possible action against Ireland if the treaty was rejected a second time, Mr Prodi quipped: "Which action could we take, imagine, we kill you, I don't know." Asked what the consequences would be for the treaty in the event of a second Irish rejection, he said: "Nice falls. Stop."
The Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, who had a meeting with Mr Prodi, said he had suggested to him it would be "undemocratic" to put the same question again to the Irish electorate. "Some modification of the question would be necessary." The director of the business and employers' organisation, IBEC, Mr Turlough O'Sullivan, said after a meeting with Mr Prodi: "The EU administration should be aware of how remote they are from most of the 375 million people within their 15 member-countries. What made Ireland's response to the Nice Treaty unique was not the fact that we voted No but that there was a vote at all."
He added: "When any institution looks as if it is trying to assume more powers than are necessary, then we should not be surprised if the people deliver a kick back. Note the very unhelpful comments by [the French Prime Minister] M. Jospin on tax harmonisation during the Nice Treaty campaign."
The Irish tax regime, both individual and corporate, "should remain within the remit of the Irish Government".