Denial of Nice ‘No’ vote not helpful, says Ireland’s ex-PM

Date: 17/01/02

By David Cronin

'A COLLECTIVE denial' of Ireland's rejection of the Nice Treaty exists at 'both European and Irish government level', the country's former taoiseach (prime minister) has claimed.

'The subject seems so difficult and embarrassing that one is unwilling to mention it in polite company,' John Bruton told European Voice.

'While this is natural and appreciated it is not conducive to solving the problem.'

Leader of Ireland's 'Rainbow Coalition' from 1994 to 1997, Bruton said that last June's 'No' vote was 'bound to have a major impact on the work' of the new Convention set up to prepare the next revisions to EU treaties.

He urged Convention chairman, ex-French premier Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, to pay particular attention to the concerns of small member and applicant states.

'One lesson of the Nice Treaty is that one country on its own can stop the entire process [of EU integration],' the Europhile added. 'When the European Union is enlarged that could be Malta instead of Ireland.'

Next Monday (21 January) Bruton will visit Brussels to debate the implications of the referendum result for the Convention with two MEPs, Spanish Conservative Iñigo Méndez de Vigo and Irish Green Patricia McKenna, a leading figure in the 'No' campaign, at a Friends of Europe policy 'open house' event.

Bruton's comments will draw on a report he is preparing for Ireland's

national parliament, the Oireachtas. This recommends that the country should end its practice of putting each new EU treaty to a popular vote. While referendums should be held if treaty revisions involve issues of 'new departure' for the Union, he contends that they are not necessary if they simply involve clarifying or building on previously agreed matters.

Bruton is in favour, however, of holding a second poll on Nice. 'One of the arguments being advanced is that it would be insulting to present the same question to the voters again,' he said. 'But that does not make common sense. As it's essential that the treaty be ratified in Ireland, it has to be put to the Irish people again. I don't regard that as undemocratic.'

He also cited previous cases in which similar questions have been addressed by the electorate on more than one occasion. 'For example, the Irish people voted No to divorce in 1986 and then Yes in 1996.'

Like most of the major parties in Ireland, his centre-right party Fine Gael urged voters to endorse Nice. But Michael Noonan - Bruton's successor as Fine Gael leader - has ruled out the party's participation in a new forum created to remedy the absence of robust debate during the referendum campaign.

Bruton accepts that the refusal to sit in the forum was a 'tactical decision by the party leadership' (Noonan has dismissed the body as a 'talking shop'). Asked if he agreed with the decision, Bruton said he did not wish to make any further comment.

John Bruton, the former Irish Prime Minister, has said that both the EU instiutions and the Irish government are 'in denial' of Ireland's rejection of the Nice Treaty in the referndum held on 8 June 2001.