Unanimity needed for EU tax change - Ahern

EU DECISIONS on taxation will continue to require "the unanimous approval of all member states", Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has insisted.

"Nothing could be clearer," he said, during the ongoing Dáil debate on the 28th Amendment to the Constitution Bill, which provides for the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty to take place on June 12th.

Minister of State Conor Lenihan said the referendum was "a benchmark of the singular importance of this treaty referendum that the Taoiseach chose to put aside his own position, and sacrifice himself politically, in order that this referendum might be passed and that our national interests would be correctly served by a Yes vote".

Labour spokesman on foreign affairs Michael D Higgins, who said the treaty should be supported because of the inclusion of the Charter of Fundamental Human Rights, hit out at "populists" such as the Cabinet for its talk "about whatever is fashionable at the moment. We get ideologically free phrases, such as 'the figures don't stack up' and 'the fundamentals are sound'. People used to say that about horses that had wind."

In his speech, the Taoiseach referred to media reports yesterday that France planned to press ahead with proposals to encourage the EU to agree a common method of determining corporation tax rates, which could undermine Ireland's 12.5 per cent rate.

Mr Ahern, who has previously dealt with the issue in the Dáil, said he wanted to "once again spell out the situation". The treaty "will change absolutely nothing here". The idea of a common consolidated corporation tax base (CCCTB) could be discussed, but "I see no prospect of it coming into effect. And the reform treaty does nothing to change that. CCCTB is something to which I have been consistently opposed. In my view the idea is unhelpful, unnecessary and unworkable. Many other members states are coming to the same conclusion, even though the topic has not been discussed yet by EU finance ministers."

During his speech, the Taoiseach said he was "saddened that despite the evidence of five decades of Europe and 35 years of our own membership, there are still those who instinctively want our nation to withdraw into its shell. They continue to put forward the same arguments, evoking European monsters hiding under the covers of necessarily detailed treaty language."

Conceding that the treaty in its structure was not "a thing of beauty", he insisted, however, that "its focus on improving the functioning of the union, rather than altering radically its area of competence, represents a level of maturity within union of 50 years' standing. What we are doing now in Europe is getting our house in order: we are tending our tree." The debate continues.