Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

I do not necessarily share the view that a referendum on treaty change inspires fear. We must go through an important process in this country. If there is a question of changing the balance of competence between member states and the European institutions, a referendum is needed. We will engage in this process if or when the time comes. We should not fear this because it is a very democratic process and it enables us to have a very robust and meaningful debate on all these issues.

The proposed treaty change, which we know encompasses budgetary control and making the management structures more robust within this Union, is not one I fear in principle. However, if one opens up the prospect of treaty change, one must deal with something much broader. There ought to be a much more holistic response to how we approach the future of the European project and European Union. In this regard, of most direct concern to us at present is the eurozone. I stated the at the joint sitting of the committees earlier today that we must have meaningful engagement in our own Parliament. Other Parliaments need to engage also. This cannot happen overnight and will take time. President Van Rompuy is very mindful of that fact.

In the meantime, there is an immediate crisis that must be dealt with. There has been much criticism of the very prominent role of the German Chancellor and French President in this regard. I share some of the concerns. Consider the discussion on treaty changes in respect of a reversion to the sort of Community method that obtained in the past, which method served us very well and led to huge strides being taken in European society and the EU economy over many decades. That all happened through the Community method and through a robust European Commission. The European Commission, whether we like it or not, has been very much sidelined in this process. I would like to see the Commission, which represents all member states equally, returning to the centre of European decision-making. This is in our interest as a small member state. Many other member states share that view. Unfortunately, the current crisis occurred in a vacuum in that there was not a mechanism to deal with it. There was no sufficiently robust decision-making mechanism and, therefore, it was imperative that the French and German Heads of State stepped up to the plate and showed leadership. Many of us were complaining for months that there was no leadership from Germany and France. We saw some decisive leadership, particularly at the last meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the eurozone on 26 October and 27 October. That was welcome and I am glad we saw it. It puts us on a firmer footing for the future.

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