Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-03-Speech-3-038"
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"en.20081203.12.3-038"2
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"Madam President, EU leaders will meet in Brussels next week and, if the Taoiseach Brian Cowan proposes that Irish support for the Treaty of Lisbon can be secured by agreeing political declarations, or making soothing noises on a selection of issues, he is being deeply misleading. The Taoiseach has sought to distract attention from the profound dissatisfaction which the people, not only in Ireland but much more broadly, feel with the direction the EU is heading. Opinion polls in Ireland, and indeed the government’s own research into the ‘no’ vote, have outlined people’s concerns over workers’ rights, public services, militarisation and democracy, and these concerns are shared by millions of workers and families across the Union.
The economic crisis which faces us demonstrates that now more than ever public services and workers’ rights need to be protected from unfettered and unregulated market forces. As governments grapple with the crisis, it becomes increasingly clear that the Treaty of Lisbon is obsolete. Governments have rediscovered the need for state intervention in the public interest, the need for flexibility and discretion in responding to their people’s needs, and they have learnt a costly lesson. They have learned that the market is not king. It cannot provide all of the solutions, and yet Lisbon seeks the coronation of this failed free-market approach that has brought such havoc in its wake.
We need a new direction and the truth is that the Treaty of Lisbon does not provide it. The Irish Government has failed to bring the debate to other governments; it has failed to seek a better deal, not just for Ireland, but for the whole Union. The Irish Government should learn a lesson from its people; it should learn to lead. And it must lead the way. But all EU leaders bear a responsibility to address, to really address the people’s concerns.
Cynical political manoeuvres and empty rhetoric will not win Irish support for Lisbon, will not address the serious flaws in the Treaty of Lisbon, but above all will not provide the new paths that the EU needs. Leaders have a choice. They can lead from the hearts and spirits of their peoples, or they can make decisions that are in the interests of the lobbyists and the bureaucrats. To the EU leaders I say: make the right choice; listen to Ireland and hear in its voice the echo of France and the Netherlands, the demand for reform, for renewal, the demand for change."@en1
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