Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent)

This debate has been triggered by tomorrow's European summit. At that summit, the European leaders, Ms Merkel and Mr. Sarkozy, will discuss treaty change with representatives of the other states, some elected like our Taoiseach and some unelected like the new Prime Ministers in Greece and Italy. I will deal with the summit in a minute but first I will address what is at the heart of this debate.

We are all European citizens. We enjoy free movement within Europe's borders and our businesses enjoy trade free of quotas and taxes. We share many laws, reflecting shared social values and some of us share a common currency. Ireland has done very well out of its membership of Europe and the world is a better place for some of the collective actions Europe has taken, most notably in the areas of human rights law and environmental protection.

Why then is there so much fear and so much concern in this House and around the country regarding current events in Europe? It is because the type of Europe we want and signed up to is drowning. We want a democratic Europe but we see an ever-growing absence of democracy. This has now gone so far that it can replace Prime Ministers with people who are on-message with France, Germany and the ECB. We want a Europe that reflects the social values of western democracy but what we see is lone parents having to deal with cuts and pensioners who must turn off the heat in their houses to cover speculators on secondary bond markets. We want a Europe that champions equality but we see an emerging display of arrogance and authoritarianism that says some are more equal than others. We want a Europe that can do all of this by being economically strong but, instead, we see European leaders destroy that economic strength by acting in narrow domestic political self interest.

Why is there so much fear? Because when the people of France and the Netherlands voted democratically against the European constitution, the choice was taken away from them. When we in Europe were convinced in part by Sarkozy to vote "yes" because we were the only people in Europe whose rights were protected by our own Constitution, he came to this country and gave us his word that corporation tax would never ever be on the table. It is contained in the text of his proposal for tomorrow's sham summit. There is fear because Ms Merkel and Mr. Sarkozy are meeting unelected officials before the summit to agree the strategy for their Trojan horse. If the Government cannot see this is a Trojan horse, it is blind. If treaty change is agreed tomorrow and put before the people, the Taoiseach will come back with a beautiful wooden horse and will say it is only giving teeth to the Maastricht treaty, that it makes us all stronger and richer and more democratic. Make no mistake, that horse is full of bean counters in suits controlled by Germany and France. When the trapdoor of that horse opens, they will head straight into Government buildings and take control of the Department of Finance.

The Government has repeatedly stated that it is in favour of stronger economic governance in Europe. That is shorthand for saying it wants an external European body to have some range of powers over our financial decision making. The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have spelled out the rationale for handing over decision-making powers to a European bureau. The logic is that we made terrible mistakes in the past and if only we had masters in Europe to enforce prudent fiscal discipline upon us, we would not be in this mess. I can understand why the Government believes this. The current Government makes great play of the mistakes made by Fianna Fáil but even the most cursory glance at its own election promises in 2002 and 2007 will show the Government parties strongly advocated higher and higher spending and strongly advocated lower and lower taxes. Fine Gael voted for the bank guarantee and Fine Gael and the Labour Party are implementing it. I can see why it wants this but if the Government does not think itself capable of running the country in a fiscally disciplined way, it has no business being in Government.

At its most benign, treaty change would give teeth to the Maastricht treaty. What would that say? It would say that the budget deficit cannot go over 3% of GDP and total debt cannot go over 60% of GDP. This position completely misses the point. During the bubble, we ran a budget surplus year on year and we had one of the healthiest debt to GDP ratios in Europe. Signing up to this sort of treaty would not have saved us from what happened. The Government might not understand this but the French and the Germans understand it and that is why their proposal goes far, far beyond Maastricht, including corporation tax.

The Tánaiste stated earlier that Heads of Government must be prepared to do "whatever it takes, regardless of the inconvenience". I say shame on him for that language. He referred to the Commission as the guardian of fiscal discipline. I say that is his job. He stated earlier that European leaders would do whatever it takes to save the euro. Does this include smothering democracy? Does it include turning off the heat in pensioners houses? Does it include surrendering our sovereignty less than 100 years after we got it? Maybe some things should be fought for no matter what it takes but being members of a currency union run by incompetent ideologues is not one of those things.

The treaty changes being proposed have nothing to do with saving the euro; all of the tools required to save the euro are already in place. Those advocating treaty change are refusing to use those tools until they get what they want. Treaty change is about a goal of furthering a federal Europe. Perhaps that is something we should have over time but absolutely not like this. I call on every Member of the House to vote for the motion and I commend the motion to the House.

See this speech in context