Summary of treaty 'utterly biased' on neutrality

ANTI-WAR COALITION:A COALITION of anti-war groups has accused the Referendum Commission of being "utterly biased" in suggesting Ireland's neutrality would be unaffected by the Lisbon Treaty.

At a joint press conference in Dublin yesterday, several organisations campaigning for a No vote claimed the commission was deliberately playing down elements of the treaty which dealt with the creation of a common defence policy and the inherent threat these posed to Irish neutrality.

Irish Anti-War Movement chairman Richard Boyd Barrett said it was "patently nonsense, even from a cursory reading of the text" to suggest Irish neutrality would be unaffected.

Mr Boyd Barrett said Article 28 of the treaty clearly set out the agenda for a more militarised European Union and created the legal basis for a European army.

Although a common defence policy had to be agreed in line with the constitutional requirements of member states, it did not alter the fact that there would be a common defence policy, he said. "By signing up to this, we are signing up to the idea that there will be a common defence in Europe of which Ireland will be a part."

Carol Fox, of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance, said it was concerned about the information on defence and military issues being disseminated by the Referendum Commission.

Ms Fox said it had written to the commission complaining that the summary of the treaty, sent by the commission to each household last month, contained no mention of the permanent structural co- operation envisaged between member states in the area of defence.

Its chairman, Roger Cole, said that under the leadership of the Yes campaigners, Ireland had become essentially "a US aircraft carrier and an integral part of George Bush's war machine".

Andy Storey of Afri (Action from Ireland) said it was concerned with what Lisbon signalled in terms of the EU's wider development agenda and its relationship with developing countries.

Former Green MEP Patricia McKenna, representing Irish CND, said the treaty had a legally binding protocol in relation to Euratom, the European Atomic Energy Community, which advocated nuclear development.