The Treaty of Nice is of particular interest to agriculture as has been mentioned by many Senators. Of the 12 applicant states, nine are more dependent on agriculture than Ireland and a further two are equally dependent. These states will be useful allies in defending the interests of agriculture within the European Union. It would be ironic if by rejecting the Treaty of Nice we were to keep out of the European Union those states that would be allies in defending the Common Agricultural Policy. In the last Dáil and Seanad there were many visits from Members of Parliament from eastern European countries. Those members pointed out to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Affairs the benefits of the Common Agricultural Policy. I refer particularly to the smaller countries like Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania whose parliamentarians talked about the political domination of the Soviet Union of which they were in awe.