Seanad debates
Wednesday, 22 October 2003
European Convention/Intergovernmental Conference: Statements.
Regarding defence, we have to take into account the fact that the people are deeply attached to the tradition of military neutrality and do no want to simply dump or abandon it. They want what we do in Europe to be an evolution and continuation, a development of where we have come from. In many ways Europe has converged in our direction just as we have in the European direction. There is nothing in the Petersberg Tasks which would cause any problem to neutral countries in that regard.
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