EU:The treaty will not lead to either abortion or Nato membership, says Hans-Gert Pöttering.
THE PRESIDENT of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, has urged Irish people to vote for the Lisbon Treaty and not listen to No campaigners misleading them about what it means.
He also insists that the treaty, if ratified, would not force Ireland to join military alliances or pave the way for the introduction of abortion, as some campaigners have argued.
"I always have defended the right that all nations must be free to decide whether they are without alliances or whether they want to join an alliance," said Mr Pöttering, who begins a visit to Ireland today to meet the Taoiseach and speak to the Seanad.
"Nobody ever can force Ireland to become a member of Nato if Ireland does not want to do so."
But Mr Pöttering, who became president last year and is a close political ally of German chancellor Angela Merkel - who will also visit Ireland next week - praised Ireland's deep involvement in EU military missions overseas that seek to defend human rights.
"Ireland has soldiers in Chad to defend the human rights of the suffering population, Ireland has soldiers in Bosnia and will have policemen in Kosovo, so this shows Ireland together with other Europeans are defending European values and human rights."
Mr Pöttering is a German conservative who has been a member of the European Parliament since its first elections in 1979. A Catholic with deep religious convictions, he criticised comments by veteran Danish Eurosceptic MEP Jens-Peter Bonde, who recently invoked the "abortion issue" as a reason to vote against the treaty.
"The person you mentioned is sharing a political group which consists mainly of either anti-Europeans or Eurosceptics," he said. "He is misleading the Irish people because abortion is not part of European legislation, it remains part of national legislation. I have strong reservations against abortions because we have to do everything to defend human life."
Mr Bonde has said his remarks, which suggested the treaty would undermine small states' ability to create protocols in EU treaties to stop the EU legislating on abortion (Ireland incorporated a protocol in the Maastricht treaty), were taken out of context by the media.
Mr Pöttering insisted he did not want to appear to be telling Irish people how to vote in the referendum but as a keen European federalist the timing of his visit is no accident.
"The Irish people have to make their own decision but I trust the intelligence and the wisdom of the Irish people and they need to make the EU strong and base it on democratic and legal principles and we need better procedures to act," he said.
"I have trust in the Irish people . . . to realise who is telling them the truth or who tries to mislead them."
When asked about a recent vote in the European Parliament that rejected by 499 votes to 129 votes an amendment to "respect the outcome of the Irish referendum", Mr Pöttering said the parliament always respects the will of the people and democratic decisions. But he refused to speculate on the consequences of a No vote for the country. He says the treaty would make the EU more democratic, transparent and give it a better capacity to act.
The European Parliament would oversee almost all EU legislation, while at present it is co-legislator for just 75 per cent of laws. Decisions taken by the Council of Ministers would be more transparent because meetings discussing new laws would be broadcast while national parliaments would assume the power to reject EU legislative proposals if a majority of them disagree with them, said Mr Pöttering.
The treaty commits states to "European values" and to engage on important international issues such as human rights - a key issue for Mr Pöttering. He was the first EU leader to suggest boycotting the Olympic Games following China's repression of Tibetan demonstrators. He has invited the Dalai Lama to visit the parliament, a move that has angered Beijing and pressured other EU leaders to address the issue.
"I see more and more the development in the EU to defend the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people and I think to do so is a political and moral responsibility," he said.
"We still have more than three months until the opening of the Olympic Games so if there are further violations of human rights we must and will have the possibility to react."
While refusing to speculate on Bertie Ahern's prospects of becoming president of the European Council, Mr Pöttering praised him for stepping down before the referendum.
"The Taoiseach made it clear that he did not want his personal difficulties to become a factor in the referendum campaign. This shows great responsibility," said Mr Pöttering.