Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern has insisted the Lisbon Treaty will protect Ireland’s tax regime and urged a strong Yes vote in the forthcoming referendum.
Speaking over the weekend at the annual Law Society dinner, Mr Ahern said the Reform Treaty is about “an EU which will work better for Irish citizens and for Ireland’s economic welfare”.
Mr Ahern said the treaty addresses the major global issues facing Ireland, such as economic globalisation, climate change, energy security and cross-border crime – issues he said “cannot be effectively dealt with alone, especially by smaller countries like our own”.
He insisted the treaty protects Ireland’s tax sovereignty and that unanimity continues to apply to all taxation matters.
“Taxation matters are and will remain within the competence of member states. Any member state can veto any proposal on taxation,” he said.
“Issues such as a common consolidated corporate tax base would require unanimous agreement to become community law. That level of agreement is simply not there. Ireland simply would not support such a move.
“Put simply - the Reform Treaty, by protecting tax sovereignty, secures our national sovereignty on issues of taxation.”
Mr Ahern said Ireland could best deal with the challenges of the future through Europe.
“Quite frankly, Ireland has probably benefited more than most from Europe’s renewal. For the next decade Europe will not have the luxury of focusing mainly on ourselves.
“We will have to concentrate more on our relations with the world beyond the Union. Climate change, the global economic downturn, immigration, demographic changes and the problems facing the developing world present huge world-wide challenges. We cannot exempt ourselves from these challenges,” he said.
The treaty will be the subject of a referendum on June 12th.