TONY BROWN,
Sir, - Breda O'Brien's description of the European Union as a "nuclear-armed power bloc" is quite outrageous. Asserting that the Nice Treaty involves ceding sovereignty to the EU in defence matters is quite simply untrue. Ms O'Brien's standard querying of EU "values" reflects a refusal to understand the Union's history as peacemaker and reconciler. It also ignores the consistent thrust of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, which actually - and not in Andy Storey's theorising - suggests alternatives to war, mediates and builds bridges. Ahem, as she might say, just look at Javier Solana's energetic and tireless activities in the Balkans and the Middle East.
But the most disturbing element of the piece is the derisive way in which Ms O'Brien writes about crisis management. As someone who has visited the border regions of Macedonia and Albania, and travelled the road from Sarajevo to Banja Luka, with its frightful evidence of systematic and bloody ethnic cleansing, I find her attempt to dismiss crisis management as a euphemism for war and killing people shameful. Does she seriously contend that the situation in the early 1990s, when Europe lacked the capability to do anything about Milosevic's aggression, was better than today's extensive EU contribution to peace and rebuilding in Southern Europe?
I am reminded of remarks made by Dick Spring, as Foreign Minster, at the time of the Serb siege of Gorazde, when air strikes were under discussion: "These are not easy choices ... nor easy things for an Irish Foreign Minister to contemplate. Every fibre of my being tells me that an international order cannot be built on the use of force. And this must remain the cornerstone of Irish policy. But the events in Gorazde have shown once again that where an aggressive power uses force to achieve political and ethnic ambitions, the world, acting with the full authority of the UN Security Council, must at some point be prepared to say stop and mean it."
That is as good a definition of crisis management, and of the policy stance of the European Union, as I have seen. - Yours, etc.,
TONY BROWN,
Bettyglen,
Raheny,
Dublin 5.
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Sir, - "Nice poll fate uncertain" said a headline in your edition of September 10th. No wonder I thought, on reading a quote below it from Mr John Bruton: "All workers now have a higher income and Irish women have been assured of equality in the workplace. None of this would have been possible had we not been part of the Union." (My italics.)
Leaving aside any debate on the veracity of this statement, what an abject admission by a former Taoiseach of the failure of the political and economic establishment here to develop this country to any decent extent. His statement also seeks to bury the long history of the struggle against his and other Irish (and European) governments to win such basic economic rights.
Now we are told they can only offer us a future through hawking the begging bowl around Europe. At least he reminds us that all the cranks and "creeping Jesuses" are not only on the one side of the debate. For myself, from being an agnostic on this issue I am being driven to shamefaced embarrassment at the Yes side's craven pleadings.
"The sky will fall," they cry, if we vote No. Any pride we may have in our own identity is being buried under the altar of the great god Europa.
Can we please get the debate back to what is actually in or not in the Nice Treaty and get away from this cant and embarrassing beating-up of ourselves as a people?
Maybe a quote from a union leader of former days might be of use. "The great only appear great because we are on our knees. Let us arise."
The Yes side need to remember that hope remains a better rallying cry than desperation. - Yours, etc.,
M. Ó CARABHÁN,
Tallaght,
Dublin 24.
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A chara, - The Taoiseach recently launched a briefing pack, "The Nice Treaty and Enlargement", compiled by The Institute of European Affairs. It is badly needed by all accounts. Unfortunately the Institute chose not to publish the document bilingually and does not have an Irish version available. Neither does the institute have any one who can converse with Irish speakers except by special arrangement or by appointment!
An expanded Europe should be a great patchwork of cultures, traditions and languages, with all having the support and freedom to breathe and live and develop. The indications now are that the opposite is inevitable and it seems likely that a small number of the more powerful cultures seem set to steam-roll their dominance from the Urals to the Atlantic.
Even in a pre-Nice referendum situation we see the Institute of European Affairs ignoring Gaeltacht communities and Irish speakers throughout the country, as well, of course, as the thousands of Irish children attending Gaelscoileanna.
It is easy to see why such groups might have concerns about being second-class citizens in an enlarged Europe. - Is mise,
MATT NOLAN,
Ballagh,
Co Westmeath.