The following motion was moved by Deputy Thomas Pringle on Tuesday, 21 May 2013:That Dáil Éireann: notes statements by leading EU politicians and policy makers that the crisis of the Eurozone provides an opportunity to push ahead towards a fiscal/political union; further notes that: -- EU law making from 2014 will be put on a straight population basis; -- the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, has announced that the unelected EU Commission will set out a range of fundamental EU treaty changes by early next year; -- the Eurozone has developed a hegemonic economic model; -- the plans for enforcing balanced budgets and draconian fiscal rules on the 17 Eurozone countries do nothing to address the sovereign debt and bank solvency crisis; and -- increasingly the EU is losing legitimacy and authority among ordinary citizens in EU states; recognises that: -- there has been no proper discussion of the fundamental flaws in the Eurozone from an Irish perspective; -- the Eurozone exchange rate is generally unsuitable for Ireland's unique pattern of export and import trade both inside and outside the Eurozone; and -- the Eurozone put us under the control of the European Central Bank; and as a consequence the Government has no economic policy beyond 'preserving the Euro'; and calls on the Government to: -- initiate a wide ranging public debate through civil society on the future direction of the European Union; and -- ensure that treaty change includes a process to allow a Eurozone member state to voluntarily leave the Eurozone.

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