Clarity and complexity are two recurrent threads running through public discussion of the European Union. The Treaty of Amsterdam raises the issues in equal measure. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, drew them together yesterday in his speech launching the Government's White Paper on the treaty. The White Paper is a good example of how clarity can be brought to bear on complexity without diminishing the value of either.
Clarity is particularly called for in the context of a treaty expressly designed to bring the European Union closer to its citizens. Mr Andrews recalled that it was one of the principal headings under which work was organised during the Inter-Governmental Conference which negotiated the treaty. This was - regrettably - done much more by addressing assumed citizens' concerns with unemployment, organised crime, drug-trafficking, free movement of people, asylum, immigration, public health, consumer protection and the environment than by enlarging the substance of the European citizenship.
The outcome in this treaty is incremental, building on and drawing from existing agreements. It cannot be understood other than as a document, as the White Paper puts it, "entirely directed to changing and adapting the provisions of the existing treaties". Hence its complexity. Hence also the excellence of the White Paper, which explains clearly the functions of treaties within the EU system and then proceeds to set out the substance of what has been agreed in plain language but with due regard for the legal and political complexity of the European integration process.
Whatever its (very substantial) difficulties with comprehension or legitimacy, the welding together of difference in the common interest still makes the EU, as Mr Andrews put it, "the most exciting venture in relations between free democratic countries - anywhere and at any time".
In this task the Government has been constrained by the McKenna judgment on public funding of referendum campaigns, which obliges it to present a fair treatment of the issues at stake. Anyone concerned to discover precisely what has been agreed, in its context and background, would do well to read this White Paper. The treaty opens up a new chapter in integration by proposing the creation of an area of freedom, security and justice in Europe. If this is achieved in coming years, it will represent an ambitious extension of the existing political and legal system to accompany the introduction of a common currency. Ireland will need to pay close attention, precisely because of the opt-out from many of its provisions designed to protect the common travel area with the UK.
The White Paper argues that Ireland's military neutrality is protected by the provisions agreed in the treaty, an assertion that will doubtless be contested during the campaign. This week the Government is to publish details about a commission to run the referendum and on its wording and timing. It will be conducted as public concerns about EMU, CAP reform and a possible end to structural funds surface, providing an opportunity for the five main political parties which negotiated and advocate the treaty to address them clearly. This White Paper gives them ample material to do so.