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Ireland wants more defence guarantees from EU - minister
Concessions may swing opinion to 'Yes' vote in second referendum.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:19 January 3, 2009
Dublin: Ireland is seeking further guarantees from European partners on defence matters in exchange for holding a second referendum on the European Union's reform treaty, Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea said on Saturday.
The Irish government said last month it was prepared to hold a second referendum on the treaty on the basis of concessions secured from EU counterparts which it hopes will sway Irish opinion towards a "Yes" vote this time round.
Conscription
The concessions included the retention of a permanent commissioner as well as in sensitive areas of Ireland's traditional military neutrality, the conduct of its own taxation policy and workers' rights.
"We are kicking around a few extra things, maybe, to put in," O'Dea said. "I don't want to be too specific -but just to give you a hint there was a lot of talk about conscription and defence spending," he told the Irish Times in an interview.
A government study carried out last year showed a third of the electorate believed that the Lisbon Treaty would have introduced conscription to a European army.
"There was never any possibility of conscription, but people's fears were aroused," O'Dea said.
"(Some) people read the Lisbon Treaty that we were in some way compelled to spend hugely on defence," O'Dea added. "Those sorts of things, we'll be trying to assuage fears."
Ireland's rejection of the treaty - a successor to the defunct EU constitution and aimed at easing decision-making in Brussels - has slowed integration efforts just as EU backers say the 27-country bloc needs to show it is capable of quick and coordinated action to tackle a financial crisis.
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