HEINRICH HALL,
Sir, - John O'Brien (June 18th) argues that the Nice treaty is an attempt by the EU's "big boys" to change rules that have been used "happily for years". This is a reference to the reweighting of votes in the European Council, which he perceives to be unfair to the smaller states.
It is necessary to be very clear about this issue: currently, the smaller EU members do not have "an equal say", as Mr O'Brien appears to think, but voting powers well out of proportion to their relative size. However, as five of the current 15 members are large states (40 million people or more), small states cannot dominate the council decisions. After enlargement, 15 out of 25 members will be small states. If the current voting method was continued, this would mean that the governments of 18 states, representing about 110 million citizens, could outvote the other seven states, with over 330 million citizens. Thus, the representation of a quarter of the EU's population could dominate vital matters such as the use of the EU funds, the bulk of which will continue to be provided by the taxpayers of some of the larger states. Anyone believing that, say, Germany could possibly accept this will have to think again.
The Nice Treaty provides a just and elegant solution to this problem: where no national veto applies, the voting mechanism will be split in two parts, and no measure can be passed without a majority in both. In the first vote, each state has one vote. In the second, each state has a share approximately proportionate to its e population. Thus, any decision must be supported by a majority of individual states, but also by states representing a majority of the total EU population.
Instead of holding up enlargement and encumbering the EU with an unmanageable or unacceptable decision-making process by rejecting Nice, Ireland could well become a leader among the smaller states, which will form a vital power block after enlargement. The real question remains: do the Irish support allowing smaller, poorer East European states into the Union, or not? - Yours, etc.,
HEINRICH HALL, Belgrave Square, Rathmines, Dublin 6.
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Sir, - Our political leaders tell us that 4 million Irish people will decide the future of 500 million people in Europe, depending on how we vote in the forthcoming Nice Treaty referendum.Surely this is not very democratic!
Instead of calling No campaigners "whingers", perhaps Mr Ahern should ask the other EU leaders to follow Ireland's lead and allow their citizens to vote on the treaty.
This would go a long way to addressing the gaping democratic deficit so apparent in EU decision-making. But maybe they would not like what they would be told by their people! - Yours, etc.,
JOHN KING, The Cliff, Ardmore, Co Waterford.
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Sir, - A lot of discussion on the Nice Treaty seems to concentrate on the perceived effort by the Government to try to "force" the electorate to change its mind. However, the reality is that a second referendum is necessary, not to sway the opinion of a small minority, but to hear the voice of those who remained silent last time. Let us not forget that the treaty was rejected by a miserly 16 per cent of the electorate (just over a half of one-third of all people entitled to vote). This is something the No campaigners conveniently ignore.
Perhaps they could explain exactly why we should not have another go. - Yours, etc.,
P. HOWARD-CORDONE, Leopardstown Heights, Dublin 18.
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Sir, - I voted No to Nice because I was concerned at the erosion of democracy at the heart of the European project. This concern was reinforced when my vote was casually set aside and a fresh referendum called.
Shamefully, no one in the Irish establishment, from the Catholic bishops to the Labour Party, raised a voice to protest at this blatantly anti-democratic rejection of the people's will as expressed at the ballot box.
After Mr Ahern's recent outburst, I am more than ever convinced that Europe is governed by an unaccountable élite grown arrogant and contemptuous and increasingly dismissive of the ordinary citizen. - Yours, etc.,
M. MAGILL, Howth, Co Dublin.
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Sir, - Of course Ireland's declaration at the Saville summit changes not a word of the Nice agreement, but it does expose the hypocrisy of those who urged us to vote No in the last Nice referendum on the basis that we were in danger of losing our neutrality if we voted Yes. - Yours etc.,
GERARD GLEESON, Aylmer Park, Naas, Co Kildare.