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16 April 1998 Edition

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Workers in struggle: Tulips from Amsterdam

Reasons to vote No to Amsterdam Treaty



     
No to flawed piecemeal gestures on workers and citizens rights which fail to actually empower EU citizens in decision making and real control of their economic and political environments.
Referendum gridlock looms for the 26-Counties in the coming weeks. Dominating the political landscape are proposed amendments to at least three articles of De Valera's 1937 constitution. These arise out of last weeks new Dublin-London Agreement.

Still in the queue for possible consideration in the autumn are referenda on the rights of children and an outside chance of a vote on incorporating European human rights conventions into 26-County constitutional law.

Almost forgotten is the referendum that was up until this week definitely happening. We had a date - 22 May - a white paper and a sufficiently disinterested and disinformed electorate that the vote on ratifying the Amsterdam Treaty seems sadly almost a foregone conclusion.

Now the Dublin Government is proposing to hold both the Amsterdam Treaty referendum and the proposed referenda on Articles 2, 3 and 29 on the same day. The Amsterdam Treaty is crucially important to the future of all Irish citizens and needs to be considered alone by voters. (see editorial)

If the Amsterdam referendum does go ahead voters in the 26 Counties will for the fourth time of asking get possibly their last chance to rubber stamp the process of moving another step closer to a full integration of their regime into a European super state. Having already ratified the Treaty of Rome, the Single European Act and the Maastricht Treaty voters have one last chance to say No.

No to a European military superstate. No to a Europe where economic power is centralised in the hands of unelected bureaucrats and the select dominant governments who have set the pace, the agenda and in many cases the conditions for our participation in European political union. No to flawed piecemeal gestures on workers and citizens rights which fail to actually empower EU citizens in decision making and real control of their economic and political environments. No to the erosion and eventual capitulation of our long held principle of neutrality.

Even this small token acknowledgement of a recognition in Ireland that neutrality is a principled stand against the colonial imperialist history of most of our fellow EU member states is to be dissolved. The proposals for a military alliance smack of the sharp end of imperialist aggression. Now however they are to be cloaked in the language of so-called peacekeeping and peace enforcing missions.

Perhaps the most ironic element of the current glut of referenda is the contradictory elements in some of their provisions. For example, one of the early carrots or safety nets for participation in the EEC in 1973 was the promise of a veto to member states so they could halt proposals which infringed on their economic and political sovereignty. The proposals in the Amsterdam Treaty on 22 May allow for increased use of majority voting where the veto of individual member states is now to be discarded.

Possibly now on the same day 26-County voters are also being asked by their government to give Six-County unionists the power to veto the Irish people's right to self determination.

While this might not seem to some to be a valid comparison it does however show that the consequences of the Amsterdam Treaty have not been faced up to by the Dublin Government. Their line in favour of the treaty is a simple one. Foreign Affairs minister David Andrews articulated it well when launching the White Paper which will ratify the treaty in 26-County law.

Andrews said ``The Treaty of Amsterdam is the first European Treaty to have the citizen at its very heart''. In this treaty it is ``the first time that the citizen was taken as the starting point''. What is so sad is that neither David Andrews nor his foreign affairs officials seem to recognise what an indictment such a statement is of the last 25 years of our participation in the EU.

The proposals for a military alliance smack of the sharp end of imperialist aggression. Now however they are to be cloaked in the language of so-called peace keeping and peace enforcing missions.
 
A Citizen's Guide to the Treaty produced by the European Commission tells us that the Amsterdam Treaty has ``four main objectives''. They are ``to place employment and citizens' rights at the heart of the Union; to sweep away the last remaining obstacles to freedom of movement and to strengthen security; to give Europe a stronger voice in world affairs; to make the Union's institutional structure more efficient with a view to enlarging the Union''.

So what rights will the Amsterdam Treaty bestow upon EU citizens. First off there are ``fundamental rights'' where an individual has the right ``to bring an action in the Court of Justice and the EU ``may take appropriate action to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin'' etc. Again the obvious question is why didn't the EU guarantee such rights in the past.

The other promised rights covered consumer issues, ``human health protection'' and ``the right of access to documents'' originating from EU institutions.

While these are important rights, it is hardly putting citizens' rights at the heart of the union. It is a piecemeal gesture and this is the real theme of the Amsterdam Treaty. The Treaty is an attempt to iron out some of the obvious flaws of the Maastricht which for example doesn't once mention the word unemployment.

It is not though a substantial change of EU policy. The original intent to create an open market economy for Europe is still on course. The small recognition of workers' rights is just a that a small drop in a sea of vested interests and inequality.

Jacques Santer, President of the EU Commission, claims that this treaty is ``for all Europeans''. ``This Treaty is for you. It lays the foundations for the Europe we want to build in the 21st century,'' he writes in the introduction to the Citizens Guide. However, he too, like David Andrews, cannot actually name any real fundamental changes in the EU's structures and institutions that are suddenly going to empower its citizens.

The very ethos of a centralised super state with a population of over 372 million is one where citizens rights cannot be adequately represented under existing structures. They are very much down the queue behind the other stated objectives of the architects of the Amsterdam Treaty which include the desire to enlarge the union and make a splash internationally as a military superpower.

In the coming weeks An Phoblacht will go through the provisions of the Amsterdam Treaty highlighting an alternative view of its provisions giving readers ample reasons to vote No.

An Phoblacht
44 Parnell Sq.
Dublin 1
Ireland