Madam, - Andy Storey's letter on EU security and defence (February 15th) returns to the tendency, evident in many such contributions to the debate in Ireland, to imply bad faith on the part of our EU partners. We are asked to believe that European democracies which have been good friends of Ireland are now conspiring against our interests.
It is constantly argued that Ireland should have a veto on almost every aspect of EU policy. We are again asked by Andy Storey to believe that the veto on decisions with military implications - insisted on by Irish negotiators on successive treaties - is of no value since we will be bullied into compliance.
It should be noted that the concept of constructive abstention is an inherent and important part of EU security and defence policy. Ireland's principled decision to leave the people of Macedonia to their own devices when the EU intervened to ensure peace and stability in 2003 may be seen as an example of such abstention.
I cannot follow Mr Storey's arguments against the success of that EU operation which was requested by the Macedonian President, Boris Trajkovski, whose death last year was such a tragic loss. It ensured that the crucial Ohrid Agreement achieved with EU help could be implemented in an environment of security.
Mr Storey is correct in pointing out that the 2003 crisis was in part a fall-out from the NATO operation against Milosevic's forces. However, one must ask what the fate of Macedonia's fragile democracy would have been had ethnic cleansing in Kosovo been permitted to succeed with a massive displacement of the Albanian population.
As for "battlegroups", they will be deployed only in operations in line with the stated principles of the EU Foreign and Security Policy - including a clear commitment to the UN Charter - and within the terms of the Petersberg Tasks with their peace-keeping and related objectives. And Ireland will have a veto.
The EU, like any political entity, has produced positive and negative results in its areas of activity. Admitted failures in the Balkans in the 1990s have been the main stimulus for current security and defence policy developments.
It might be helpful to recognise the reality of European security rather than the theory or fantasy. Today, Irish troops are on vital peace-keeping tasks in Bosnia, under EU command, and in Kosovo with NATO while the Garda Deputy Commissioner is leading an EU Police Mission in Bosnia to develop modern, effective policing there.
The enlarged EU faces real challenges in respect of military and civilian security - from regional insecurity on its new borders to cross-border crime and terrorism. All of its member-states, including Ireland, share the responsibility of meeting those challenges in a spirit of genuine solidarity. - Yours, etc.,
TONY BROWN, Bettyglen, Raheny, Dublin 5.