Sutherland warns of Lisbon vote fallout

Jason Michael

Former EU commissioner Peter Sutherland today warned that Ireland was facing a choice in the Lisbon Treaty referendum that would have “dramatic consequences”.

Speaking at a Fine Gael event to mark Europe Day, Mr Sutherland said following European integration has been the core policy of Ireland for some 40 years.

He argued a No vote would be a rejection of continuing integration and the “continued efficiency and effectiveness" of the European Union.

Mr Sutherland argued that the referendum was not just about ensuring the EU functioned more effectively, but was about “a belief in living in harmony with our neighbours. . . . it is about peace and it is about values”.

The debate on the treaty in Ireland had so far been “uninspiring and intensely negative” and “bedevilled by inaccuracy and cynicism,” Mr Sutherland said.

He conceded that the governance in the European Union had drawbacks but argued the treaty was an indispensable element in helping the EU tackle issues such as climate change and energy security, tackling food prices and supply, and countering serious international criminality.

“When it comes to tackling these issues, let’s be realistic. Individually, the nations of the European Union are simply too small. The treaty will invest the Union with a sustainable and democratic institutional structure that will enable it to function as a union of twenty-seven member states," he told the Fine Gael briefing.

However, Mr Sutherland noted that "attempts to construct a durable institutional architecture have led to 20 years of introspective navel-gazing, which in turn has created an understandably high level of ‘treaty fatigue’".

On tax implications of the treaty, the former world trade talks chief said it was “demonstrably false” and “nonsense” to argue that the treaty permits or facilitates tax harmonisation of corporation tax.

He added Irish neutrality was “completely ring fenced”, as was the “virtually compulsory" reference to the fact that the Common Security and Defence Policy shall not prejudice security and defence policies of member states.

The Labour Party will unveil its campaign for a Yes vote at a press conference in Dublin on Sunday .

Events in Dublin and across the European Union are today marking Europe Day to commemorate a speech on May 9th 1950, in which French foreign minister Robert Schuman called for European countries to combine coal and steel production under a European institution.