The Green MEP, Ms Patricia McKenna, has claimed that the adoption by the Parliament of the Tindemans report on increased security co-operation in the EU brought Ireland's participation in a military alliance one step closer.
The adoption of the report by the MEP, Mr Leo Tindemans, who sits in the same EPP group as Fine Gael in the parliament, will come as a serious embarrassment to the former party leader, Mr Alan Dukes, who is chairman of the European Movement, she said.
"He has consistently denied any such moves to common defence in Europe. The report not only affirms a wish to have `armed forces from the member-states of the European Union' deployed on a UN or OSCE mandate, but worse still, actively promotes the possibility of aggressive action when `the security of its communications and its supplies is threatened', " Ms McKenna said.
She claimed Ireland was "sleepwalking into a military alliance, coaxed by promises of more handouts, which will not come due to enlargement, and a cosy conspiracy of silence between the main political parties."
Meanwhile, Green MEPs have accused the EU of failing to introduce a meaningful system for labelling genetically-modified (GM) foods, though Novel Food Regulations require them to be adequately identified.
"It is now exactly 12 months since the regulations were introduced. We still do not know how and when GM foodstuffs should be labelled," said the Green MEP, Ms Nuala Ahern.
Speaking in response to a report of the Parliament's environment committee, she criticised the European Commission for failing to enact any detailed rules or guidance on a matter of vital consumer interest.
The report was approved yesterday by the Parliament but the Green Group cited "a complete oversight, which allowed two of the first and most controversial GM foods - Monsanto soya and Novartis maize - into EU markets with no labelling required".
The Commission, however, following pressure from Parliament and consumer groups, is to adjudicate next week on how to introduce an ad-hoc labelling scheme for these products.
