THE EU

Below is a copy of a letter from today's Independent:

Independent.ie
We need Lisbon Treaty facts now

I have to question the silence of this paper on the fact that in the European Parliament's vote on the Lisbon Treaty in February 499 MEPs, including Proinsias De Rossa, voted not to respect the outcome of the Irish referendum. Further, that silence continued when Pierre Jonckheer, Vice-President of the European Green Party in the European Parliament, spoke on March 6 in Galway and said that it was irrelevant what the Irish do in their referendum.

If the result was a no to the Lisbon Treaty, Europe would ignore it and carry on with the Treaty.

This silence continued when Senator Dan Boyle, Chairman of the Irish Green Party, defended Mr Jonckheer's assertion.

Let's first clear the air.

The Lisbon Treaty must be ratified by all 27 member states or it can not go ahead.

This means that an Irish no vote is an automatic veto of the Treaty binding the entire EU.

Any country is entitled to use a veto and no country can be punished for using it.

The fact that the Irish people are being given their democratic right to vote on this Treaty means that we have an obligation to the entire EU to have all the facts of the debate, including that the European Parliament voted not to respect our referendum.

It is disappointing that this paper did not report this fact to the Irish people.

If the EU is, as Mr Jonckheer seems to think, so desperate to get this Treaty and the additional powers it bestows on it, that it is willing to break its own laws, then we must ask where the EU is heading.

I trust that the law will be respected and an Irish no will mean no and send the Treaty back for serious revision, because otherwise the "rule of law" that the EU says it stands for is a sham.

KATHY SINNOTT MEP

BALLINHASSIG, CO CORK