That Ireland's future development is intimately bound up with membership of the European Union was made abundantly clear at its weekend summit in Gothenburg. Following the electorate's rejection of the Nice Treaty the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, told his partners the Government is disappointed with the result. He set out to convince them that Ireland still supports EU enlargement and remains committed to full participation across the whole range of the EU agenda.
His efforts to do so are certainly made less convincing by Mr Charlie McCreevy's outburst at the summit, in which he commended the No voters just after his budgetary strategy was criticised once again for breaching the EU's broad economic guidelines. This calculated and irresponsible intervention reveals a tension within the Cabinet between those who want Ireland to remain fully in the EU and those such as Mr McCreevy and the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, who have major reservations about some of its policies. Such disagreements are likely to become more significant now that the Government has effectively decided to put the Nice Treaty once again to the people - all the more so since this coincides with the opening up of a major debate, in Ireland and throughout the EU, on the future of Europe. Further exacerbation will follow if Mr McCreevy decides to ignore the EU reprimand in a pre-election Budget.
That such uncertainty is not cost-free was strongly underlined by Mr Ahern at Gothenburg. He emphasised that multinationals are wondering "where is Ireland's future in Europe". He pledged a greater effort to connect Ireland's annual £65 billion export trade and such everyday issues as employment and the environment to its full EU involvement in the minds of voters. The Government will make a major effort to convince them of these facts through the National Forum on Europe and enhanced involvement of the Oireachtas with European issues.
This is a commendable strategy, which could go a long way towards re-engaging the public after the unprecedented low 35 per cent turnout on June 7th. The debate on the future of Europe is a real opportunity to confront alternative visions and identify where Ireland's best interests lie. That involves basic questions of domestic as well as European politics. There is, of course, plenty of room for robust disagreement in this debate; but the Government will have to put forward a much more coherent and active case if it wants to put the Nice Treaty to another referendum and define accurately what concerns must be addressed in negotiations with its EU partners before it is held.
The Gothenburg summit made significant progress on EU enlargement by agreeing that negotiations with the leading accession states will conclude by the end of next year, to allow them join by 2004. The summit agreed to make sustainable development of the environment a central benchmark of its policies - an important breakthrough with major long-term consequences. It reaffirmed the co-ordination and health of economic policies and fundamentals. It marked decisive progress in putting the EU more prominently in the mainstream of international affairs.
These achievements confirm the capability and efficiency of Sweden's EU presidency. That the summit was marred by violent attacks on Swedish police by a minority of anti-globalisation demonstrators should not over-shadow these achievements. Nor should they encourage future EU presidencies to surround these summits with so much security that the valuable dialogue between EU political leaders and non-violent demonstrators conducted at Gothenburg becomes impossible.