Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the ambassadors and thank them for their dissertations. I wish to raise a number of matters, the first of which is the duration of the negotiations that are likely to place from the moment they are activated. There is likely to be a considerable shift in movement in the markets right across Europe that will be affected by the negotiations at various stages and the duration of the negotiations may have a negative impact on various countries which we have not yet anticipated. To what extent do the witnesses see something like that happening? For instance, we see already the shift in the value of the pound against the euro and negotiations have not taken place at all yet. In the course of the negotiations, those differences are likely to be accentuated. As the Chairman knows, I have always held the view that there should be one currency throughout the European Union. I believe that for a union to work effectively, just as in the United States, the necessity for one currency was obvious from the very beginning. There is a presumption on the part of some commentators that it is better to have different currencies within a union. It does not work that way, unfortunately, nor is it likely to work that way in the future. Regarding the countries outside the European Union but within the continent of Europe and the trading areas, there are likely to be huge pitfalls when dealing with the same trading people as in the past, which will impact negatively on one or the other, as the case may be. To what extent has that been anticipated?

Reference has already been made to the necessity for what is called a soft Border on this island.

I do not know how feasible that is or how it would work because I cannot understand how one can have a Union and at the same time have no Union and breaches in the Union. If that were the case every country within the Union would seek to avail of breaches to suit their particular circumstances, especially if there are fluctuations in the markets affecting one or the other. A crisis might develop very quickly and the situation might come to a head.

Has anybody thought of any situation whereby, in the event of one or two years down the road there might be such dramatic movement in the markets as to make it very serious for the entire European Union, with a view to knocking heads together once again and inquiring whether this is a great idea? I have in mind the writings of John Donne, "No Man is an Island". Everybody should read that very carefully. I will not do it now but I have done it many times in the past. It is not a long poem but it was written a long time ago and it has more meaning now than it ever had before. I emphasise the lines, "If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less". That is a very poignant phrase in the poem and it has real meaning for us now.

I wish to make two other quick points. Much has been made of opportunities that might exist for other countries, including Ireland, the Netherlands and various others. We would be very foolish to assume there would not be an undignified brawl across Europe to encourage relocation of facilities from the UK. That would not augur well for either the UK, the European Union or for the individual member states of the European Union. To what extent has that been anticipated? Everybody will see the opportunities for themselves at a particular time.

I have a point relating to smaller countries, which to my mind have more to fear from a broken down European Union. The reason for the Common Market in the first place was very obvious. It came at a time when the attention of Europeans was focused as a result of a particular tragedy, one we hope we will never have to face again. It concentrated people’s minds then. There was a period of relative peace across Europe, of previously unknown duration. Perhaps people have got tired of peace, quiet and progress and they think there are better things. My colleague mentioned the possibility of people resiling from globalisation. To my mind, the real issue has been a downturn in the global economy. The world economies have taken a sharp downturn and the people of Europe, those within the European Union and outside of it, and across the globe have taken a hit in recent times. At such times people have been known to become restless and out of that restlessness sometimes people make very foolish mistakes. To what extent has the diplomatic service evaluated the potential danger in the direction in which we are going?

Another point is one I have mentioned on many previous occasions. Everybody wants to feel they should nationalise Europe, which I presume means nationalising to their own idea of what it should be. Until such time as we as Europeans – we are all Europeans – recognise and seriously espouse the concept that we are Europeans and we have something to offer to Europe as well as something to take away, we should not for one moment allow ourselves to be encouraged away from what has worked extremely well. There are those who say it was not perfect, and it was not, but I warn people to consider what the alternative might be. I will leave it to them to decide that for themselves.