Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)

Is mór agam an deis seo a labhairt ar an ábhar tábhachtach seo le léiriú go bhfuilimid i Sinn Féin ag cur i gcoinne an chonartha áirithe seo agus ba mhaith liom na cúiseanna leis a léiriú. Seachas a bheith ag cur amach raiméise, mar atá curtha go dtí seo, go gcaithfear amach as an euro sinn agus an an Aontas Eorpach sinn mura bhfuilimid sásta glacadh leis an chonradh seo, ba mhaith liom díriú ar na fíricí sa díospóireacht seo. Séard atá sa chonradh seo ná socrú fioscach idir cuid de na tíortha atá san AE, ní iad ar fad. Tá sé chun an scéal a dhéanamh i bhfad níos deacra do phobal na tíre seo agus táimid chun an ghearchéim eacnamaithe atá againn a fhadú ar feadh na mblianta fada má leanaimid leis.

On 31 January the Government signed the eurozone austerity treaty and on Thursday, 28 February announced its intention to hold a referendum on the treaty. The reason we have the treaty is that core EU member states such as Germany and France want to impose stricter fiscal discipline on peripheral EU economies such as Portugal, Ireland and Greece. The aim of the treaty is to strengthen the enforcement of existing rules and impose some new ones in terms of government deficits, debt and budgetary policy.

This eurozone austerity treaty is not a European Union treaty. The British Government refused to allow it to become EU law, thus it takes the form of a separate, non-EU, intergovernmental treaty. This means it is outside the scope of European Union law, although, controversially, it alters the manner in which the European Union's policies and institutions operate. Article 3 of the treaty is the most important and states that governments' budgets must be balanced or in surplus. The article makes significant changes to the existing European Union treaty rules on fiscal policy known as the Stability and Growth Pact. Some of these changes were included in a European Union legislative proposal agreed in November 2011 known as the six pack. However, by placing them in an intergovernmental treaty, they are more binding and permanent. This means that if ratified, future governments will be obliged to implement pro-austerity, anti-stimulus budgets in perpetuity. This limits significantly the freedom of decision making of governments in the future, irrespective of the mandate they receive from the electorate. The key provisions of Article 3 includes a new structural deficit target of 0.5%, a restatement of the existing Stability and Growth Pact deficit target of 3%, a debt target of 60% of GDP, a requirement for member states that breach these targets to return to them rapidly and an option for breaching these targets in exceptional circumstances. Put in plain English, this means the ability of future governments to borrow or to run deficits in times of recession will be limited severely if not removed outright. It also means the current Government will be obliged to implement austerity budgets beyond 2015.

Article 4 restates the existing Stability and Growth Pact requirement for estates that breach the 60% debt ceiling to reduce the excess portion of that debt by 5% annually. The preamble to the treaty reminds one of the existing mechanism for enforcing the Stability and Growth Pact targets known as the excessive deficit procedure. Article 5 of the treaty goes further and introduces new measures aimed at compelling member states in breach of the targets to take action deemed necessary by the Commission and the Council. There is a new obligation to enter a budgetary and economic partnership programme involving detailed structural reforms aimed at reducing debt and deficit levels. This essentially is a eurozone version of the troika austerity programmes that member states legally will be obliged to accept when they breach the debt and deficit targets. Articles 7 and 8 make three more changes, the first of which is that the excessive deficit procedure becomes automatic and will require a majority of the European Council to block it. The second change is that member states now can take one another to the European Court of Justice if they believe the debt and deficit rules are not being respected. The third change is that the European Court of Justice can fine an errant member state for not complying with the rules, with such a fine being up to but not exceeding 0.1% of a member state's GDP. In Ireland's case, this would amount to approximately €155 million, based on 2011 GDP figures.

Article 12 creates a new parallel governance structure for the eurozone based on the existing eurozone summit meetings but outside the framework of the existing euro governance framework. This will not apply to all eurozone countries, irrespective of whether they ratify the treaty Article 16 states that the content of the austerity treaty will be incorporated into European Union treaty law within five years of coming into force. Finally, the preamble of the treaty makes ratification a condition for accessing future European Union bailout funds from the European stability mechanism, ESM. The treaty governing the ESM funds also has been amended. This means that if Ireland says "No" to this treaty, it could be excluded from applying for ESM funds in the future. However, it is unlikely that the European Council would enforce this rule as it would have serious implications for the member states concerned and the eurozone as a whole.

There are two key arguments against this treaty. The first is it will impose greater levels of austerity on citizens for an indefinite period. One economist has estimated it will require, at a minimum, a further €6 billion in cuts and tax hikes after 2015. The second argument is it significantly undermines the choices available to future governments to manage the State's economic affairs and, in so doing, undermines our sovereignty. Few commentators have managed to summarise this compact in as concise manner as Fintan O'Toole who stated:

The fiscal treaty does not deal in "facts". It is right-wing opinion given the force of law. The "structural deficit" is a highly contested interpretation of complex data – trying to make it a legal concept is nuts.

The treaty effectively is being used to get the French and German governments over the line for mere political purposes in a year in which they are in election mode. Precious few people believe this treaty will have a positive effect and in recent days, a right-wing conservative Spanish Prime Minister has come out against it and has claimed the rules are far too rigid and draconian. Germany breached the deficit rules in 1994, 1996, 2003 and 2006, as well as in each year since 2009. It has broken the debt-to-GDP rule in each year since 2003. France has broken the deficit rule in each year since 2003 and has breached the debt-to-GDP rule in each year since 2003.

Sin iad na pointí atáimid ag díriú ar an ábhar. Ní bhaineann sé seo le ballraíocht san Aontas Eorpach nó san euro. Baineann sé le rialacha breise fioscach a chur i bhfeidhm ar an tír seo nach bhfuil ar mhaithe leis an tír. Sin an fáth go bhfuil Sinn Féin ag cur ina choinne go láidir.