Sir, – Dr Eoin O’Malley’s clarification of the exact title of the treaty we are being asked to vote on is welcome (March 2nd). The public is already bemused by the debate, which has only started. References to six-packs, two-packs (or should that be pacts?) and the rest of the economics terminology used in commentary will cause further confusion as the debate heats up; not to mind the possible mayhem caused by not knowing which treaty we are actually voting on.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy said there were 250 articles in the fiscal treaty (World News, February 28th), whereas if you look at it, you will find that there are only 16.
Mr Sarkozy’s mistake was either genuine (he didn’t know because he never read it), or he was trying to dissuade people from reading it, by making it out to be 20 times longer than it is.
Similarly, the terms “treaty” and “compact” are both used to describe the document. However, a compact is an “an agreement between two or more parties”, while a treaty is a more serious “agreement between states”. These terms are not synonymous. The fiscal compact is contained within the Treaty on the Stability, Co-ordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union. (Title 3). The treaty is 11 pages in length and readable with a bit of concentration, even though the first four pages constitute one very long sentence. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Has nobody woken up to the fact that the euro is a complete disaster, and that we in Europe are once again at the mercy of Germany, the very thing which past generations warned we should be aware of and not let happen again?
The governments of Italy and Greece have been replaced by unelected people who are not serving the interests of their people, but the interests of the EU at the expense of their own people. The only reason Greece is getting a bailout is because German and French banks are owed money by Greece, but the conditions of the bailout mean that the Greek economy is collapsing and will continue to do so. The result of this will be Germany will have control over the budget of Greece and soon Italy.
This referendum is nothing more than an illusion. If the Irish vote No, once again the EU and its unelected masters will find a way to blackmail the Irish into following their lead. People are debating the pros and cons of the referendum in Ireland, ignoring the real issue, which is the EU and its dreams of an empire, controlled by Germany. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Sinn Féin and other left-wing blocs have attempted to baptise the European fiscal treaty, to be put to the people in an upcoming referendum, as the “austerity treaty”. The intonation they promote is that the referendum should be regarded as a simple Yes or No to the concept of austerity itself. This should sharply be regarded as a disingenuous campaigning basis.
If the treaty is defeated, the extent of austerity observable in this country is, if anything, likely to be greater. The cutting off of ESM funding would be significant in that, although it is strongly hoped Ireland will not need to avail of an additional bailout from this mechanism, the removal of the possibility that Ireland could draw on such funding would in itself dent confidence and harbour investor concern.
Failure of the treaty to pass would hurt Irish attempts to return to the bond markets by 2013 and potentially usher in an onus whereby austerity measures here would have to be implemented to a more urgent extent than is currently the case.
It is clear that left-wing parties have a significant incentive to oppose the treaty given that such a viewpoint appeals to a constituency that is disaffected as regards Europe.
Perhaps it is too much to hope that they would consider putting forward views that are actually in the national interest, instead of holding out that a No vote would, by inference, lead to an improvement in the daily lives of Irish citizens, when demonstrably it will not? – Yours, etc,