Susan O'Keeffe posts on posters and more

Posted on September 09, 2009 at 05:04 PM

Susan O'Keeffe

Well hats off to the Labour Party for a novel way of postering - crossing O'Connell Bridge this morning in the centre of Dublin and there was a "Work with Europe" poster face up, floating in the River Liffey. Probably more effective than many of the other prized locations that the two sides have been fighting for, up and down the country. The print and poster companies are certainly doing well this year.

And people do see these posters and they have a powerful contribution to make in this campaign - even though it also allows for lies and half truths to become part of the argument. The irony about the complexities of the Lisbon Treaty is that in the end, they will get boiled down to a handful of key arguments which have little or nothing to do with Europe or the treaty. This despite the fact that there are far more organisations involved in campaigning this time round - especially on the yes side.

Let's be clear about a number of key things about Lisbon. We now have a guarantee in place that the number of EU commissioners will remain the same, that each country will have one. IF this guarantee were to be overturned, it requires unanimity from the 27 members which of course it will not get as Ireland at least, will vote against. So the guarantee is safe and in any event is unlikely to be challenged. Of more interest is the point that if Lisbon fails, we revert to the Nice Treaty and it is written into Nice that the number of commissioners will be reduced. It may not be us but the number will go down.

On the minimum wage front, Ireland's national government has complete 100% control over the setting of the minimum wage for workers - not Europe - not now and not then.

And under the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which will become primary law, the right to collective bargaining, collective action and the right to strike will be strengthened. Indeed the European Trade Union Confederation which represents 60 million workers across the Union is supporting the Lisbon Treaty as a step towards ensuring "European Solidarity." Unions will continue to demand workers' protection within the European Union and this Charter is a good building block for those protections.

And I, for one, want to see the Council of Ministers meet in public and not in private as they do now. And I also want to know that the European Parliament has a greater involvement in the management of the EU's budget which it currently does not have. These are two practical steps towards a more democratic and open Europe.

And finally, voting more than once on a referendum is not an undemocratic thing to do. We have done it several times - Nice, divorce, abortion. Indeed on abortion, those who were unhappy about the limited right to travel for abortion demanded another referendum to overturn it and failed to do so. Some of those campaigners are now arguing that a second vote on Lisbon is wrong!

I went to the Sligo launch of the Ireland for Europe campaign. Its director Pat Cox made an impassioned speech in which he reminded us that this choice is for us - the people to make - not for the government or the political process but for the citizens of Ireland. He reminded us too that Ireland may remain geographically on the edge of Europe but that in the 36 years of our membership of the Union, we have moved to the centre and made a rich contribution to the growth of the Union.

So the launches are nearly over now and it's down to work for the next three weeks. I wonder do the people of the Portuguese capital know how much free publicity they're getting!

by Susan O'Keeffe, Euro Representative for Ireland North West

Tagged with Foreign & European Affairs • labourforeurope