The Nice Treaty will bring an end to the EU as a "partnership of equal sovereign states", Sinn Féin's Mr Aengus Ó Snodaigh said today.
"Our vote in this referendum is about the governance of the EU as it stands before enlargement. We have a say in the matter - the applicant countries do not.
"Accession without Nice would allow the new members to join in the negotiations about EU governance after they have come in. Surely that is the best way to promote the rights and interests of the applicant states," Mr Ó Snodaigh said.
He was briefing members of the diplomatic corps on the party's position on the Nice Treaty and EU enlargement in Dublin today.
Mr Ó Snodaigh also criticised the Government for not recognising the will of the Irish people following last year's referendum. He said arrangements for accession of applicant countries "could have been well advanced at this stage if the Irish Government had not embarked on this equally unnecessary referendum in order to overturn the decision of the people."
Meanwhile the Sinn Féin campaign manager for the Nice Referendum, Mr Daithí Doolan warned that "Nice contains a covert privatisation agenda in the form of Article 133."
"If Nice is passed it will massively increase the EU's ability to pressurise member states into implementing sweeping privatisation measures. This explains the motivation of the business lobbies such as IBEC in backing Nice," he added.
Mr Doolan was speaking at a mock auction organised by Ógra Sinn Féin to highlight the issue of privatisation.
He went on to say: "Those people who oppose privitisation and support Nice should seriously re-think their position as the two are mutually exclusive."
