Tulips from Amsterdam
Reasons to vote No to Amsterdam Treaty
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No to flawed piecemeal gestures on workers and citizens rights
which fail to actually empower EU citizens in decision making and
real control of their economic and political environments.
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Referendum gridlock looms for the 26-Counties in the coming
weeks. Dominating the political landscape are proposed amendments
to at least three articles of De Valera's 1937 constitution.
These arise out of last weeks new Dublin-London Agreement.
Still in the queue for possible consideration in the autumn are
referenda on the rights of children and an outside chance of a
vote on incorporating European human rights conventions into
26-County constitutional law.
Almost forgotten is the referendum that was up until this week
definitely happening. We had a date - 22 May - a white paper and
a sufficiently disinterested and disinformed electorate that the
vote on ratifying the Amsterdam Treaty seems sadly almost a
foregone conclusion.
Now the Dublin Government is proposing to hold both the Amsterdam
Treaty referendum and the proposed referenda on Articles 2, 3 and
29 on the same day. The Amsterdam Treaty is crucially important
to the future of all Irish citizens and needs to be considered
alone by voters. (see editorial)
If the Amsterdam referendum does go ahead voters in the 26
Counties will for the fourth time of asking get possibly their
last chance to rubber stamp the process of moving another step
closer to a full integration of their regime into a European
super state. Having already ratified the Treaty of Rome, the
Single European Act and the Maastricht Treaty voters have one
last chance to say No.
No to a European military superstate. No to a Europe where
economic power is centralised in the hands of unelected
bureaucrats and the select dominant governments who have set the
pace, the agenda and in many cases the conditions for our
participation in European political union. No to flawed piecemeal
gestures on workers and citizens rights which fail to actually
empower EU citizens in decision making and real control of their
economic and political environments. No to the erosion and
eventual capitulation of our long held principle of neutrality.
Even this small token acknowledgement of a recognition in Ireland
that neutrality is a principled stand against the colonial
imperialist history of most of our fellow EU member states is to
be dissolved. The proposals for a military alliance smack of the
sharp end of imperialist aggression. Now however they are to be
cloaked in the language of so-called peacekeeping and peace
enforcing missions.
Perhaps the most ironic element of the current glut of referenda
is the contradictory elements in some of their provisions. For
example, one of the early carrots or safety nets for
participation in the EEC in 1973 was the promise of a veto to
member states so they could halt proposals which infringed on
their economic and political sovereignty. The proposals in the
Amsterdam Treaty on 22 May allow for increased use of majority
voting where the veto of individual member states is now to be
discarded.
Possibly now on the same day 26-County voters are also being
asked by their government to give Six-County unionists the power
to veto the Irish people's right to self determination.
While this might not seem to some to be a valid comparison it
does however show that the consequences of the Amsterdam Treaty
have not been faced up to by the Dublin Government. Their line in
favour of the treaty is a simple one. Foreign Affairs minister
David Andrews articulated it well when launching the White Paper
which will ratify the treaty in 26-County law.
drews said ``The Treaty of Amsterdam is the first European
Treaty to have the citizen at its very heart''. In this treaty it
is ``the first time that the citizen was taken as the starting
point''. What is so sad is that neither David Andrews nor his
foreign affairs officials seem to recognise what an indictment
such a statement is of the last 25 years of our participation in
the EU.
The proposals for a military alliance smack of the sharp end of
imperialist aggression. Now however they are to be cloaked in the
language of so-called peace keeping and peace enforcing missions.
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A Citizen's Guide to the Treaty produced by the European
Commission tells us that the Amsterdam Treaty has ``four main
objectives''. They are ``to place employment and citizens' rights
at the heart of the Union; to sweep away the last remaining
obstacles to freedom of movement and to strengthen security; to
give Europe a stronger voice in world affairs; to make the
Union's institutional structure more efficient with a view to
enlarging the Union''.
So what rights will the Amsterdam Treaty bestow upon EU citizens.
First off there are ``fundamental rights'' where an individual has
the right ``to bring an action in the Court of Justice and the EU
``may take appropriate action to combat discrimination based on
sex, racial or ethnic origin'' etc. Again the obvious question is
why didn't the EU guarantee such rights in the past.
The other promised rights covered consumer issues, ``human health
protection'' and ``the right of access to documents'' originating
from EU institutions.
While these are important rights, it is hardly putting citizens'
rights at the heart of the union. It is a piecemeal gesture and
this is the real theme of the Amsterdam Treaty. The Treaty is an
attempt to iron out some of the obvious flaws of the Maastricht
which for example doesn't once mention the word unemployment.
It is not though a substantial change of EU policy. The original
intent to create an open market economy for Europe is still on
course. The small recognition of workers' rights is just a that a
small drop in a sea of vested interests and inequality.
Jacques Santer, President of the EU Commission, claims that this
treaty is ``for all Europeans''. ``This Treaty is for you. It lays
the foundations for the Europe we want to build in the 21st
century,'' he writes in the introduction to the Citizens Guide.
However, he too, like David Andrews, cannot actually name any
real fundamental changes in the EU's structures and institutions
that are suddenly going to empower its citizens.
The very ethos of a centralised super state with a population of
over 372 million is one where citizens rights cannot be
adequately represented under existing structures. They are very
much down the queue behind the other stated objectives of the
architects of the Amsterdam Treaty which include the desire to
enlarge the union and make a splash internationally as a military
superpower.
In the coming weeks An Phoblacht will go through the provisions
of the Amsterdam Treaty highlighting an alternative view of its
provisions giving readers ample reasons to vote No.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)