Cox vows to fight for Irish ‘Yes’ vote

Date: 26/09/02

EUROPEAN Parliament chief Pat Cox has vowed he will not heed calls to remain neutral over Ireland's second referendum on the Nice Treaty.

MEPs including Danish eurosceptic Jens-Peter Bonde, Swedish left-winger Jonas Sjöstedt and Irish Green Patricia McKenna have appealed to Cox not to take any part in the campaign leading to the 19 October poll.

They have argued it would be inappropriate for the Parliament's president to take a position, as the assembly's membership is divided on the issue.

But, yesterday, (25 September) Cox said he would be stepping back from his duties as president between now and the referendum to concentrate on winning support for a 'Yes'.

'I will campaign because it is my duty as an Irish member,' the Cork-based deputy said. 'I have all the rights of freedom of expression and I will not be silenced by my critics.'

David Martin, the assembly's vice-president, is expected to chair most of its debates in the coming weeks, while Cox is in Ireland.

But McKenna, one of the most prominent figures in the 'No' campaign, accused the president of abusing his position by taking advantage of the Parliament's resources to hold a press conference in Strasbourg yesterday, where he urged support for the referendum. During the briefing, he was flanked by the Parliament's official spokesman David Harley.

'Pat Cox was elected as the president of Parliament, not as a campaigner for Nice,' McKenna said. 'He is not entitled to use his resources as president [in the campaign]. This is a gross abuse of his position. He seems to lack the knowledge of how to behave as president of a Parliament, where you have both 'Yes' and 'No' people.'

European Parliament chief Pat Cox has vowed he will not heed calls to remain neutral over Ireland's second referendum on the Nice Treaty, due to take place on 19 October 2002.