BELGIUM: European Affairs Minister Dick Roche has thrown down the gauntlet to "begrudging" Eurosceptics and called on people to support the EU Reform Treaty.
In a debate with Danish MEP and anti-treaty campaigner Jens Peter Bonde in Brussels last night, Mr Roche said the EU was "one of the most outstanding political achievements of our time", citing its role in promoting peace in Europe and abroad.
"The inconvenient fact that its critics like to overlook is that the Union - not that long ago home to the rubble of the second World War - is to the forefront in promoting peace and stability, internally, in the Union's immediate neighbourhood and much further afield," he said.
Mr Roche said he would be advocating a Yes vote to the Irish people because the treaty improved the way the EU undertook its business, enabled it to play a greater role in world affairs and secured the future of the Union for the benefit of all citizens.
"No company established 50 years ago would after growing massively be attempting to limp along with the same structures," said Mr Roche, who argued that the treaty would enhance the democratic character of the Union by giving the European Parliament a greater role in scrutinising new legislation.
Mr Bonde said he opposed the treaty because it was the constitution by another name but the public were not getting a chance to vote on it in any member state but Ireland.
"Seventy-five per cent of Europeans want a referendum on this treaty; I would propose that all member states should hold a referendum on the same day," he said.
The new treaty was bad for small states, he said, because they would lose influence to larger ones. For example the voting system in the Council gave Germany 20 times more votes than Ireland whereas under the current system it had four times the influence.
The loss of a permanent commissioner, he said, would also prove a blow to small countries. He also strongly criticised the failure to publish a single consolidated text of the new treaty. Mr Roche said the Government would publish a consolidated text to help the public understand the main features of the new treaty.