Dublin barred from arguing for treaty

Date: 15/01/1998

By Rory Watson

THE Dublin government is about to enter the country's referendum campaign on the Amsterdam Treaty with one hand tied behind its back.

Nevertheless, Ireland looks set to be the first EU member state to ratify the treaty.

In a landmark judgement two years ago prompted by a controversial referendum on divorce, the Irish supreme court ruled that the electorate's right to make up its own mind on an issue should not be compromised in any way and that the use of government money to campaign for one side of the argument could interfere with that freedom of choice.

As a result, the Dublin government will not be able to use public funds to argue for ratification. Instead, it is planning to publish a White Paper in the next two weeks setting out the significance of the new treaty, laying down ground rules for a forthcoming public information campaign and possibly confirming a March voting date.

It is also expected to establish an independent commission to process applications from political parties for referendum expenses. Parties in the government coalition will be able to apply for funding, but the administration itself will be officially on the sidelines.

Despite this, there is little doubt voters will approve the new treaty, paving the way for the parliament to amend the European Communities Act shortly after.

Denmark, the only other EU country certain to hold a referendum on the treaty, already has a well-tried system under which political parties and the pro-and anti-Union movements receive funding from the state to argue the merits or otherwise of the latest version of the EU constitution.

Despite traditional Danish Euroscepticism, treaty supporters believe the new text will be approved on 28 May.

Elsewhere, the Netherlands, the last EU member to ratify the 1992 increase in the Union's finances, is likely to be one of the first to get through the parliamentary procedures for approval of the new treaty. These must be completed by 17 April if ratification is to take place before the country's general election on 6 May.

Germany is likely to complete its own procedures in the same month, and the UK government aims to use its massive parliamentary majority to put the treaty on the statute books by May.

Belgium looks set to be one of the last EU countries to ratify the treaty. Although the necessary draft legislation has already been drawn up, it needs the approval of federal, regional and community parliamentary assemblies - a process unlikely to be completed much before Easter 1999.

Meanwhile, Paris is coming under pressure from the Communist Party to hold a referendum on the treaty, a call supported by French Interior Minister Jean-Pierre Chevènement but rejected by President Jacques Chirac and Premier Lionel Jospin.

Irish Government cannot use public funds to argue for the ratification of the Treaty of Amsterdam in a referendum. Article also looks at the ratification process in other Member States.