Madam, – I was interested to hear Mr Justice Frank Clarke refer to the Crotty Supreme Court judgment of 1987 last week. Raymond Crotty was my father and Mr Justice Clarke was quite right in pointing out that the case was lost in some areas relating to economics. As I recall the Supreme Court found that because we were in the EEC, which was an economic community, there was no case to be answered in relation to economic issues.
Essentially the Supreme Court ruled that when we joined the then EEC in 1973 we joined a developing economic community and that most of the provisions of the Single European Act, which my father challenged, were part of that development and therefore did not need to be ratified by a referendum.
However, the foreign policy provisions in the Single European Act did require a referendum because they were the start of a move towards a political union, then incipient and embryonic, but now culminating in Lisbon and the EU constitution. Having read the Lisbon Treaty I cannot conceive of an area of legislation that is not covered by this treaty.
In constitutional terms Lisbon would turn Ireland into a regional or provincial state within a new federal-style European Union, with the EU’s constitution and laws having legal primacy over the Irish Constitution and laws in any cases of conflict between the two. Ireland would thus formally cease to be a sovereign independent state in its own right in the international community of states, and become like a provincial state inside an EU federation.
The inevitable implication is that this will be the last time the Government will be obliged to give the Irish people a referendum on a European Union treaty. If I am incorrect I would appreciate if someone could let me know in what circumstances an Irish government would be obliged to hold another referendum on Europe. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Tony Allwright’s view of how “Lisbon empowers the EU to impose its own taxes” (Opinion, September 18th) is wrong in just about every detail.
The actual position appears to be as follows: 1. The Treaty of Lisbon amends two existing Treaties, Maastricht (Treaty on European Union) 1992 and Rome (Treaty establishing the European Community) 1957, both of which have themselves each undergone previous amendment. The original version of the Treaty of Rome contained 248 Articles, but has 314 Articles in its current version. Maastricht has 53 Articles. Tony Allwright is thus incorrect in saying that “neither (Maastricht or Rome) runs to 269 Articles”.
2. Lisbon has just seven Articles. Lisbon does not contain any Article 259, as suggested by Mr Allwright. Lisbon Article 1 lists the amendments to be made to Maastricht and contains 61 provisions. Article 2 does the same for the Treaty of Rome and has 295 provisions. It is provision 259 of Lisbon Article 2 that amends Rome Article 269, which deals with financing the EU budget from “own resources” of the Union.
3. Lisbon does not introduce new powers for the EU in respect of “own resources”. Financing of the EU’s budget from “own resources” is a concept going back to the beginning of the EEC in 1957. The current Rome Article 269 has a direct predecessor in Article 201 of the 1957 version of the treaty. Both the unamended present Article 269 and its amended version require unanimity of the Council (of Ministers) and consultation with the European Parliament for matters relating to “own resources”.
4. Article 5 of Lisbon changes the Article numbering of the amended Treaties of Maastricht and Rome. “Tables of equivalences” are set out as an Annex to Lisbon. The renumbered Articles do not constitute a separate “consolidated” treaty. The end result of Lisbon is an amended Treaty on European Union (Maastricht) and an amended Treaty of Rome (renamed “Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union”), in which the amended previous Rome Article 269 becomes renumbered Article 311 (of a total of 358). Amended Maastricht has 55 Articles.
Understanding the effects of the Treaty of Lisbon is challenging but not impossible. It is disappointing at this stage of a vital national debate for a misinterpretation of any Article of the Treaties to be published in your newspaper. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Your readers may be concerned by the statement in Robert Ballagh’s article (Opinion, September 22nd) that voting in favour of the Lisbon Treaty will affect their Irish citizenship, as he states: “Every Irish person will become, firstly, a citizen of the European Union and secondly an Irish citizen”.
To allay the fear of your readers, let me quote Article 9 of the consolidated version of the Lisbon Treaty: “Every national of a Member State shall be a citizen of the Union. Citizenship of the Union shall be additional to national citizenship and shall not replace it”. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Pól Ó Deoráin wonders aloud (September 22nd) whether, if they were to vote on the idea, US citizens would “vote to align themselves with other countries and give up their independence”.
His implicit suggestion is that they would not. But how does he, and others think the United States came to be such a large and powerful nation?
The vast majority of the ancestors of today’s US citizens either exercised their franchise in a series of just such votes as he suggests (when, colony by colony and territory by territory they joined the union) or else they elected representatives to debate, negotiate and vote on the matter for them.
Just what we Europeans have done, are doing and will continue to do.
Madam, – My father lived through two world wars and lost an uncle in the first and a brother in the second. Born in 1947, I have never experienced war and hope that my children will share my good fortune.
Whatever flaws the EU may have, it has given peace and stability to Europe for nearly 60 years. Anything that weakens the EU or encourages Eurosceptic parties, like UKIP and the British Tories, has to be resisted.
As a student of history I am familiar with the terrifying self-destruction of Europe between 1914 and 1945, so I am voting Yes for peace – the foundation of all human progress. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I would normally be loath to express an opinion about the politics of another country. Indeed, it could be argued that the Lisbon Treaty is no concern of the Isle of Man; as you will know the Island is not a full EU member. But, in common with most Manx residents, I feel that your country has the opportunity to do Europe a great service.
Only politicians support closer integration. The great majority of European citizens (not just the English!) prefer to retain nation states, with their own effective parliaments. You are best placed to sort out your own problems, using your own priorities.
I would urge Irish people to vote No and save Europe from itself. – Yours, etc,