Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-06-13-Speech-3-015"
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"en.20010613.1.3-015"2
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"Madam President, the august Danish publication, ‘Ugebrevet Mandag Morgen’ has a leader with the headline, ‘Thank you, Ireland!’ According to this leader, ‘To try to get the Irish to change their opinion would be completely contrary to all the EU promises about the need for a wider public debate and for grassroots support. The EU countries have jointly and unanimously decided upon the ground rules which clearly state that a treaty only comes into force once it has been ratified by all the Member States. Following the Irish ‘no’ vote, Ireland cannot and should not ratify the Treaty of Nice.’ How can the foreign ministers simply let the ratifications continue? The Treaty of Nice has come to nothing. It is a constitutional violation to ignore a binding referendum, and it is contrary to Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union concerning the principle of the rule of law. We call upon all countries at least to take a break from the ratification procedure and to reflect upon the reasons for the ‘no’ vote. It was not, of course, a specifically Irish ‘no’. We would also see a majority of ‘no’ votes in other countries, if the latter dared to hold referenda.
Nice is not, at heart, about enlargement but about shifting power from electors and elected representatives to officials and ministers. Why should the electorate vote in favour of less influence? Nor has the European Parliament been fulsome in its praise for Nice. The initial judgement of the voters is: Try again! Next time, the negotiations must be bottom-up instead of top-down. The Irish ‘no’ vote was presented in the press as a ‘no’ to enlargement, even though the ‘no’ side too had said that the enlargement negotiations should continue. Five countries may be admitted under the Treaty of Amsterdam, and the next group of countries on the basis of the places and number of votes stated in the Summit declaration. The Treaty of Nice is only relevant to the 27th applicant country, and we are deprived of the right to a Commissioner. There is nothing else about enlargement in the Treaty. The declaration is a common position and not a part of the Treaty, and it has not therefore been thrown out in the referendum. Let us now, rather, slim down the EU and create open, democratic cooperation that is close to the people. I congratulate the Irish people on a courageous ‘no’ vote and call upon the Gothenburg Summit to respect the people’s choice instead of ignoring a referendum."@en1
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