MINISTER FOR Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin believes the Czech Republic will ratify the Lisbon Treaty before a British general election next year, and that the next British government will be forced to honour the Labour government’s commitment to Lisbon.
Mr Martin spoke to the European Institute in Washington at the start of a four-day visit which also takes in New York. Former taoiseach and European representative in Washington John Bruton was there, along with a half dozen European ambassadors.
Asked whether he had a message for the Eurosceptical Czech president Vaclav Klaus, who refused to sign the Lisbon Treaty though it was ratified by the Czech parliament, Mr Martin said the EU should not interfere. “In a general sense, it won’t be a show-stopper, and within the Czech Republic they will find a solution,” he said.
British conservative leader David Cameron has promised to hold a referendum on Lisbon if the Czech Republic has not yet completed ratification, and if he wins the election expected in May 2010.
“The Conservative Party have a very clear view there should have been a referendum,” Mr Martin said. But, he added, “Successive governments honour agreements entered into previously.”
There was “ample time” for the Czechs to resolve the issue before the British election.
The multilateralism of President Barack Obama was “very, very welcome across Europe,” Mr Martin said. Relations with Russia were “of critical importance to the EU”. The August 2008 war between Russia and Georgia “set back and slowed down engagement” but now the “overwhelming sense in Europe is to engage”.
Mr Obama has called repeatedly for a world without nuclear weapons. “We look forward to dealing with the US administration on the disarmament issue. We see ourselves playing an influential role in Europe on that score,” Mr Martin said.
Former Irish foreign minister Frank Aiken was the first person to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968, and Ireland was one of seven founding members of the New Agenda Coalition, which campaigns for disarmament at the UN and other forums.
Irish hope for 2010 immigrants Bill
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin yesterday met seven US senators and 16 Republican and Democratic representatives on Capitol Hill.
The most pressing issue was the fate of perhaps 15,000 undocumented Irish people, out of an estimated 12 million illegal aliens in the US. Mr Martin raised the issue with senators Lindsay Graham and Patrick Leahy and congresswoman Zoe Lofgren.
“For us it is an important issue, given the fact that a number of Irish people have been undocumented for a very long time and it’s causing real trauma and hardship on families,” he said. It was now clear the Irish immigration issue “will be resolved within the context of comprehensive immigration reform”, along with immigration from Mexico, the minister said.
Although he had “no illusions about how challenging it will be”, the Irish Government hopes an immigration Bill may pass early next year. That was why he was “very keen to keep Ireland’s voice heard in an informed, constructive way.”
With mid-term congressional elections in November 2010, it is unlikely such a controversial issue will be addressed later in the year. Mr Martin said it was “a bit strange that given the long history and bond between us”, there was not a bilateral immigration agreement between Ireland and the US.
He said he hoped a Bill would include a reciprocal agreement that would allow some 10,000 Irish people to live in the US and the same number of US citizens to live in Ireland.