Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this debate on the European Council. I want to use this occasion to challenge the cosy consensus that exists in the Dáil on Europe and its future direction. The Government and the major Opposition parties do not listen to the concerns of many citizens. Even if it is not popular to do so, I represent a different view of Europe. I speak as an Irishman and an internationalist in the tradition of Peadar O'Donnell and Michael O'Riordan. My vision of Europe is one of different nations working together as independent states while respecting the integrity of each. Throughout history, empires have not worked. The attempt to introduce the EU constitution will not work because the voices of citizens were not listened to.

The elites of the EU must be challenged. The result of the French referendum demonstrates that working people will not be bulldozed into a super state with its own constitution, a Union law with primacy over the law of member states, a legal personality and all the symbols of a super-state. The details of the EU constitution in terms of common foreign and security policy are described on page 139 of the constitution. Article III-294 makes it clear that a state is being created that was not sought by the people of Europe.

I ask the Taoiseach and Ministers to look at the evidence of this matter. On 25 February 2005, the German Minister for Europe said that the EU constitution is the birth certificate of the united states of Europe. On 26 June 2004, the Belgian Prime Minister said that the constitution is the capstone of a European federal state. In 1998, the then German Foreign Minister said that creating a single European state, bound by one European constitution, is the decisive task of our time. These comments reinforce my arguments. I urge people to listen to the Opposition voices with regard to the EU constitution.

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