Sir, - The Peace and Neutrality Alliance would like to congratulate The Irish Times for drawing attention to the decision of the Government to allocate between 800 and 1,000 soldiers to the European Union's army, the Rapid Reaction Force, through your Editorial of November 1st and articles by Edward Horgan and Laura Marlowe. However, since the The Irish Times is one of the few media to cover this issue in a balanced way, we doubt if many people are aware that the new European Army will be made up of between 200,000 and 250,000 soldiers and will be capable of placing 80,000 of them into a area of conflict within a radius of 2,500 miles from the borders of the European Union.
While your Editorial says the decision of the Irish Government to provide a regiment of the army of the European Union does not affect our "neutrality", we do not agree. They will be no more "neutral" than Irish Regiments were when they were part of the army of the British Union.
This new army of the European Union is to play the same role as that of the British Union and Empire, that is, to defend the "interests" of the elite of the Union. When the mostly European NATO states went to war against Yugoslavia they did so without a United Nations mandate. You are fooling itself and your readers to suggest that the elite of the newly forming European empire would feel itself constrained by the charter of the United Nations.
The new army is being established as a consequence of the provisions of the Amsterdam Treaty. At the time of the treaty referendum, PANA called for a protocol similar to that achieved by the Danes to exclude them from militarisation of the EU and 38 per cent of the people agreed with us. We now demand a referendum on the Treaty of Nice and again call for a protocol to exclude Irish participation in the new imperial army.
PANA believes that the future of Ireland is that of an independent, democratic state supporting collective security through the UN. The Irish elite wants Ireland to be gradually integrated into an empire. The Irish people should have the right to decide. If given the chance, PANA is confident that, like the Danes, next time we win. - Yours, etc.,
Roger Cole, Chair, Peace & Neutrality Alliance, Blackrock, Co Dublin.