PROINSIAS DE ROSSA MEP,
Sir, - I have read and re-read Anthony Coughlan's opinion piece in your edition of June 24th. No matter how many allowances I make for him, I am repelled by his thinly-veiled appeal to xenophobia.
He wants a Europe where there will be first-class status for workers already in the EU and second-class status for workers in the enlargement countries. Áine Ní Chonaill must be jumping with joy.
He has been a consistent opponent of Irish membership of the European Union; Irish membership of the euro; and incorporation of the European Charter of Fundamental Social and Political Rights into the Union's treaties.
He has until now argued his case on the basis that he does not want to share Irish sovereignty with any other state or group of states - a respectable, if outdated, nationalist position. His appeal to xenophobia takes his case too far, and must be exposed for what it is in reality - a desperate attempt to shore up a threadbare case against enlargement.
Patricia McKenna MEP, who has shared many common platforms with him on Nice, and avails regularly of his advice, has been silent on this issue. The Sinn Féin party, which usually echoes his latest "open letter", and which claims to stand on an equality agenda, has also been silent.
Why? Do they agree with the demand of their erstwhile ally to create an unequal Europe? Do they agree with his appeal to xenophobia? Will they repudiate his stance?
Waffle, bluster and histrionics won't do on these two vital issues. We need straight answers from them. Do they stand for a Republic and a Union of equality and tolerance for all citizens in an enlarged European Union, or not? - Yours, etc.,
PROINSIAS DE ROSSA MEP, Socialist Group, European Parliament, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2.
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Sir, - I am a bit confused. I thought that Vincent Brown was opposed to the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan. But now I find him advocating an all-out fight against what he calls the "Euro-Taliban" over the Nice Treaty (Opinion, July 3rd). The real terrorists of the Taliban in Afghanistan are one thing, it seems, the "political terrorists" of the pro-EU lobby quite another.
I don't have much time for the Nice Treaty, and I certainly oppose the neutrality clause in the referendum text, but this kind of invective is enough to turn even me into a Europhile. - Yours, etc.,
Dr GEOFFREY ROBERTS, Department of History, University College Cork.
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A chara, - Dermot Lacey's argument in support of the Nice Treaty (July 2nd) is the wildest yet. Of course Cllr Lacey is correct to suggest that "time moves on and circumstances change". But what exactly has changed in relation to the Treaty of Nice over the past year? The simple answer is nothing.
The fact of the matter is that the electorate is being asked to endorse a treaty that is unchanged from what we have already rejected. No realistic attempt has been made to amend the issues of real concern contained in it. - Is mise,
Cllr MATT CARTHY, (Sinn Féin), Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan.
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Sir, - Magdalena Majrowska's letter about Nice and democracy (July 1st) raises matters critical to the forthcoming vote.
When we joined in 1973 we consented to a democracy of nations, as well as of people. Our population of 3.5 million is tiny, but all nations were granted a veto - a right to say no on matters vital to that state. Nice dilutes this significantly in 30 different areas.
Our veto carries equivalent weight today to that of all member-states and to water it down, for the purpose of swift decision-making, is dangerous in the long term. It is a removal of control.
The right to say no is essential not just to Ireland but to all other member states present and future: Neither for reasons of wealth or popularity should we agree to its loss. - Yours, etc.,
JIMMY WELDON, Firhouse, Dublin 24.