The Danish author of a book on the Nice Treaty has criticised the Government for failing to discuss details of a "revolutionary clause" with the Irish people.
Danish MEP Mr Jens-Peter Bonde said his book Nice Treaty Explained, which was released today, had taken a "nightmare" 250 hours to put together and should have been produced by the Government in advance of the June 7th referendum.
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The President of the EU Commission Mr Romano Prodiprefaced a new book on the Nice Treaty
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He said contrary to the Government's information leaflet which stated Ireland would not lose its voting rights in Europe as a result of a new vote-weighting system to come into effect in January 2005, pending a Yes vote to Nice, the "qualified majority" clause would effectively remove Ireland's decision-making capacity.
Mr Bonde said he was not advocating a No vote but was concerned the Irish people were not being presented with all the information.
Prefaced by the President of the EU Commission Mr Romano Prodi the book is available at Waterstones's bookshop and is also online in a version consolidated with the current Amsterdam treaty at www.euobserver.com.
Mr Bonde said consolidation of both treaties provided people with an important opportunity to understand the implications of Nice. He added the Government had failed in this respect and said: "If the treaty was not available in this format it would not be possible even for experts to know what the vote is about."
But a a spokesman for Minister for Foreign Affairs Brian Cowan rejected Mr Bonde's comments. "The Nice Treaty is fully explained in the Government's White Paper.A detailed account of the qualified majority voting and the re-weighting of votes is readily available in the White Paper - a summary of which has been sent to every household in the country," he added.
Irish MEP "Dana" Rosemary Scallon added her support to Mr Bonde's book and said that she was concerned a Yes vote in the Nice Treaty referendum was being railroaded through as a step towards an EU constitution.
She said the "clearly stated intention" in the European Union was that by 2004 there would be a "constitutional treaty" and the Nice charter was the "first pillar towards this".
Ms Scallon said she was concerned that Irish politicians had been effectively "put under the whip to support this" and questioned why the Government were giving an "educated Irish people" just two and a half weeks to decide.
"Why are they being rushed - there is no rush," she said. She added should the Irish people vote Yes to the treaty democracy would only have been served if they were fully informed in advance.
But Ms Scallon said in the absence of all the information she was calling on the public to vote No in the referendum. She saidthat failing to vote at all was the equivalent of voting Yes.
"You have to vote No", she said, adding: "Once this treaty is signed, it's set in stone - there is no going back".