Leaders calm fears over Irish neutrality
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Europe's leaders stepped up efforts to help the Irish government win a vital second referendum on the Nice Treaty yesterday, drafting a declaration to ease fears that the country's traditional neutrality could be compromised.
Drafts of the statement, due to be released at the Seville summit, underline the fact that the Nice Treaty does not tie Ireland into "binding mutual defence commitments" or involve it in a "European army".
Fear of Ireland losing its neutrality was one of the reasons given by Irish voters when they sent shockwaves across the European Union by rejecting the Nice Treaty in a referendum last year. The concern arose because the EU is establishing a 60,000-strong rapid reaction force, which would take part in peace-keeping operations or crisis intervention.
The treaty spells out a range of reforms to EU decision-making designed to pave the way for the expansion of the union to include up to 10 new member states. European officials say that if a second Irish referendum fails to approve the treaty, it would deal a severe blow to prospects of enlargement.
The declaration agreed by EU leaders says the Nice treaty "does not impose any binding mutual defence commitments. Nor does the development of the union's capacity to conduct humanitarian and crisis management tasks involve the establishment of a European army".
In addition to the EU declaration which critics point out has no legal force the Irish Prime Minister, Bertie Ahern, was planning to publish his own declaration stating that Ireland was "not bound by any mutual defence commitment. Nor is Ireland party to any plans to develop a European army".
The Irish government declaration also promises a referendum on any future treaty which would entail a sacrifice of Irish neutrality.
Yesterday Pat Cox, president of the European Parliament and an Irish MEP, described the declaration as "a positive contribution to a future referendum", which is expected to take place in the autumn.
He appealed to European leaders not to meddle in the internal debate and warned against any statements which might be interpreted as an attempt at "external manipulation" of the Irish electorate. But he conceded that there was "no plan B" in the event of a second referendum "no".
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments