Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and assure him that Fine Gael will be fully supportive of this treaty. We intend to mount a vigorous campaign in favour of this treaty, as we have done in most referendums.

The European reform treaty will make Europe work more efficiently and effectively, as the Minister of State said, by speeding up decision making in Brussels. This is crucial now there are 27 member states, 12 more than there were five years ago. It will also make Europe more democratic by strengthening the role of Dáil Éireann and the European Parliament, both of which are elected directly by the Irish people. The treaty also aims to enhance the role of Europe on the world stage, giving European member states a greater say in world affairs, for example, in the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation negotiations.

The size of the European Parliament has become unwieldy since the two most recent rounds of enlargement. It has been agreed, therefore, that the number of seats in Parliament will be capped at 750. This should ensure the work of the Parliament can proceed in an efficient manner. Each member state, no matter how small, is guaranteed a minimum of six seats, with the maximum number for any one country capped at 96 MEPs. The upper limit will affect Germany, which will have far fewer MEPs per capita than Ireland. We will have 12 MEPs in total, which amounts to the loss of one MEP.

The treaty will also reduce the size of the European Commission. Each member state has one full Commissioner, which is unworkable, as the Minister of State said, with 27 departments operating at present. If the reform treaty is adopted, the Commission will remain like this until 2014, at which point the size will be reduced. From that point on, each member state will have a seat on two out of every three Commissions, with strictly equal rotation. This new situation will apply to each member state, irrespective of its size. Malta, for instance, the smallest member state, thus will have the same level of representation as Germany, the largest member state.

It is widely accepted that the various institutions of European Union are somewhat incoherent and require greater co-ordination. To address this weakness a new full-time President of the European Council will be elected by member states for a maximum of five years. At present the President of the European Council rotates every six months, along with the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. This longer term will provide much greater synchronisation within the EU. Furthermore, the traditional so-called travelling circus of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, which rotates from country to country every six months, will now occur over an 18-month period and will be hosted by a team of three member states working together at one time. Ireland is to be teamed with Greece and Lithuania and will take on the Presidency in 2013.

Henry Kissinger famously said, "When I want to call Europe, who do I call?" The EU has long been at a disadvantage on the world stage because there was no one single voice representing our common position. The EU is currently represented abroad by the Council's high representative for common foreign and security policy and the Commissioner for External Affairs. In order to streamline these positions, the reform treaty proposes the creation of a single position of high representative for foreign affairs and security policy. This person will become Vice President of the Commission and will chair the Foreign Affairs Council of Ministers. He will be supported by a European external action service and will be charged with enhancing the co-ordination of EU activity abroad.

The use of majority voting in the Council, where just one member state could veto any proposal, was becoming unworkable due to the enlarged size of the Union. Therefore, the introduction of majority voting in a variety of areas is a welcome change, which will make decision making much easier. If the treaty is passed, double majority voting will come into force in 2014. This means that a majority of 55% of the member states will be required, in addition to 65% of the Union's population. This ensures that no bloc — either the small member states or the large ones — can gang up on another. It is the fairest possible form of majority voting.

The role of national Parliaments is to be strengthened under the treaty, with each member state having two votes. In Ireland, both the Dáil and the Seanad will have a vote each. National Parliaments will have an eight week period to offer a reasoned opinion on whether a Commission proposal is overstepping the mark. If at least one third of the votes of national Parliaments require it, the proposal must be reviewed. If a Commission proposal for EU legislation is opposed by more than half of the votes allocated to national Parliaments, the Commission must justify its proposal in a reasoned opinion and it may be blocked by the Council of Ministers or the European Parliament.

In order to enhance co-operation between member states on legal and security issues, majority voting will now apply in this area, so that one country may not stop the progress of all others by exercising a veto. The areas affected include terrorism, human trafficking, drugs trafficking, corruption, money laundering, counterfeiting, computer crime and organised crime. Ireland has chosen to opt out of these provisions, along with the UK, but with an option to opt in on a case by case basis. These arrangements are to be reviewed within three years of the treaty entering into force.

A new article will state that the European Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights of persons belonging to minorities. The treaty will also make the European Charter of Fundamental Rights legally binding for the first time. The charter consolidates and reflects the human rights which are already set down in European and Irish law.

The date agreed for ratification by the Lisbon Council is January 1st 2009. Most member states are expected to ratify the treaty by parliamentary means, but we will have a referendum. Perhaps the Minister could indicate the likely date for such a referendum.

Fine Gael will campaign vigorously for this treaty to be passed in any referendum. We believe it will ensure more democracy, faster decision making, greater influence on the world stage, greater clout in WTO negotiations, that it will enhance our human rights and will provide a greater role in peace keeping missions. I hope that Commissioner McCreevy's fear that the Irish people would use this referendum as a means of voting against a very unpopular Government will prove to be unfounded. I also hope that we all work vigorously to ensure this referendum will pass and I wish the Minister of State well in his negotiations.