Press Statement – 27^th June 2002

Nice Treaty Referendum II:

Common Defense Opt Out Does Not Address Concern Over Drive Toward Militarisation of E.U.;

Enhanced Co-Operation Provisions for a “Two Speed” Europe Remain Unchanged

Joe Higgins T.D. Socialist Party

The provision of an opt out clause on an E.U. Common Defence in the new Nice Treaty Referendum Bill, does not address our major objection to the relentless drive toward the creation of a military wing for the E.U.

The creation of the Rapid Reaction Force involving 60,000 troops, 400 aircraft and 100 ships together with the intention to have an E.U. armaments industry are all to be pushed ahead.

The Nice Treaty provides for the Political and Security Committee, which “shall exercise, under the responsibility of the Council, political control and strategic direction of crisis management”.

Between Amsterdam and Nice, we have a Rapid Reaction Force, with 60,000 troops, 400 aircraft and 100 ships. We also have a permanent military bureaucracy based in Brussels and the Political and Security Committee, with Irish Government involvement in all these. This is the genesis of an E.U. army by any standards.

Enhanced Co-Operation

Of course, the E.U. provisions for enhanced co-operation remain the same. This provides for a two-lane Europe with the powerful states in the fast lane to suit their interests, and leaving the weaker behind.

Nice provides for a further twist to the “democratic deficit” already so apparent. In the course of the second campaign on the Nice Treaty, the Socialist Party will work vigorously for its rejection and will campaign instead for a democratic and socialist Europe where power is in the hands of the ordinary people rather than in those of the multinational corporations, the armaments industry and the entrenched bureaucracies that do their bidding.