David Norris (Independent)

The church has acquired consultative status, which provides for the Catholic Church to be consulted in the pre-drafting stage of legislation when it is believed it would have an interest. People are right to feel concerned about the issue. I very much hope that this aspect at least will not be confirmed in the treaty.

I am divided on the treaty. I was against earlier treaties because of their military aspect. However, the neo-conservative lobby is against this treaty because it fears a balance that a stronger Europe would give. The evil empire, which has sprung up under President Bush, violates every possible aspect of human rights and undermines democracy anywhere it springs up in its own backyard. While the Americans are quite happy to foster it in Russia's backyard, they do not like it anywhere near themselves. This worries me and it represents the best possible reason for having a strong European entity.