Seanad debates

Wednesday, 22 October 2003

European Convention/Intergovernmental Conference: Statements.

 

Senator Quinn referred to marketing. I do not have a problem with marketing which is an honourable profession. What is needed in this case is cause marketing which should point out how extraordinarily positive Europe has been in the lives of millions of people. Senator Ryan mentioned how different things would have been if political leaders at the beginning of the last century had the foresight to take that leap into the dark taken by those courageous politicians in the early 1950s when establishing the European Coal and Steel Community and ultimately the European Common Market. The idea was to make war not just unthinkable in the future but materially impossible. John Hume said it all when he suggested the European Union was the most extraordinarily successful peace process ever seen in Europe. He is correct. We have enjoyed the longest period in Europe's modern history of peace and prosperity. This treaty makes provision for the future. I agree with all Senators in that regard.

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