TONY BROWN,
Sir, - It is to be welcomed that Sinn Féin through Deputy Ó Snodaigh (August 12th), has clearly distanced itself from the appearance in the Nice Treaty debate of the classic symptons - well recognised by those who know the history of the 1930s - of the Le Pen/Haider/ Danish Peoples' Party contamination.
However, he saw fit to accompany his disavowal of one distorting element by another. He once again played the "second-class citizen" and two-tier Europe" card which is as groundless as the threat of "floods of foreigners". Sinn Féin and the Green Party have persisted through the work of the National Forum on Europe with the assertion that Ireland and the candidate countries will be treated "as mere appendages to the larger nations as they set about building a militarised European superstate."
As a participant in the work of both the National Forum and the Convention on the Future of Europe, I can state that these assertions are without foundation and distort the reality of the process of enlargement. The full incorporation of the members from candidate countries, including Turkey, in the convention debates has been a notable feature of both plenary and working group sessions. The former prime minister of Slovenia sits with former taoiseach, John Bruton, from the Irish "appendage", as a member of the convention praesidium. We have heard the voice of the candidates, and the reflection of their cultures and history, demonstrating their inherent strength and the contribution which they will bring to the European Union. These historic nations are not going to be ground down under marginal changes in qualified majority voting!
The debates of the convention demonstrate to anyone who troubles to follow them that talk of a "superstate" is nonsense. Debates have centred on the respective competences of the Union and the individual member states, and on the application of the principle of subsidiarity. Initial debates on security and defence had equally demonstrated the diversity of opinions among present and future member states but the clear agreement that the EU must never again be in the impotent position which permitted Milosevic to embark on the ethnic cleansing of Bosnia.
As for Ireland no longer being treated as an equal, the only people who can bring that about are those, like Deputy Ó Snodaigh, who are determined to marginalise us in the EU by throwing into crisis an enlargement which he claims to support and by ensuring that candidate countries see us as an obstacle to the historic uniting of the continent. - Yours, etc.,
TONY BROWN, Raheny, Dublin 5
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Sir, - I note from The Irish Times (August13th) that the Government has dismissed a survey by the Hungarian polling company, Tarki, which indicates that four per cent of Hungarians will "definitely" seek work in the EU and a further six per cent will "probably" seek it after Hungary's accession.
Is this Government dismissal because the poll is faulty in some form? Or is it simply an ostrich-like response to a survey that more than supports an argument put forward by those opposed to the Nice Treaty that Eastern European migration to those members of the current EU, who will allow immigration, will be significant?
As only four countries (including Ireland) are to permit immigration after enlargement, is it beyond the realms of belief to suggest that perhaps one per cent of the Hungarian population might intend heading towards Ireland? - Yours, etc.,
FRANK BARR, Ballyboggan Road, Dublin 11
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Sir, - Does Colm Roddy (Letters, August 15th) really believe that by voting No to the Nice Treaty Ireland will somehow develop the oil reserves of Norway? - Yours, etc.,
BRIAN MCEVOY, Ashbourne, Co Meath