Republican Sinn Fein slams Lisbon Treaty
In what are now his final days as leader of Republican Sinn Fein, Ruairí O Brádaigh has slammed the Lisbon Treaty and highlighted that it would create a "United States of Europe".
Mr O'Brdaigh said that the notion was a central issue which was being avoided by the yes advocates whom he said were pursuing other matters and ignoring this vital point.
"If people grasped the very core of the whole question they would be very much more likely to vote no to Lisbon," he said. "In summary, Lisbon means more power to Brussels and less power to Ireland.
"In addition it would radically shift control of the EU towards the big states by basing law making primarily on population size. The right to veto harmful measures in more than 50 areas of policy will be lost and the arrangements proposed add up to a power grab by the big states and the Brussels bureaucracy. Further political centralisation is what it is all about."
Mr O'Bradaigh went on to say that the right, at present, to propose and decide who would be a Commissioner would be replaced with a right to make suggestions only for the incoming Commission President and the big states to decide and he highlighted that such a move "from a bottom up to a top down appointment process" was also being ignored by the yes side of the debate.
"In military matters, Lisbon would require more to be spent on equipment and this could see deep cuts in funds for education, health care, social welfare, pensions and the like," he said.
"As members of an EU federal state, countries would have to go to the aid of any other member state under attack. This is surely a military alliance like NATO and contrary to the idea of neutrality?
"Then there has been the attack on workers' rights by the European Court of Justice rulings in the Laval and related judgements.
"These put the competition rules of the EU market above the right of trade unions to enforce pay standards higher than the minimum for migrant workers. Under Lisbon these judgements would become part of EU case law and institutionalise them. Also Lisbon would give the EU full control of immigration policy."
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Weather for Longford, Ireland
Tuesday 22 May 2012
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