215 lines
9.7 KiB
Plaintext
215 lines
9.7 KiB
Plaintext
**************** The European community *************
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& Maastricht treaty
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from Workers Solidarity No 35
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(1992)
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On the 18th of June, we are going to be
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asked to vote on a 234 page document
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that most of us won't have seen, and
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they call this democracy. If you've
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been reading the papers about the
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Maastricht Treaty you'll know it deals
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with Economic Monetary Union and a
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common defence policy. Maastricht is
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about closer European integration. And
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if you've been reading the papers,
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that's about all you will know about the
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referendum. Those three phrases keep
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getting thrown up, with no explanation,
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no elaboration and then an occasional
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mention of £6 billion is chucked in to
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clinch the argument. The impression
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left in many minds is that Maastricht is
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very important, very confusing and very
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boring.
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Maastricht is the next step towards closer European
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integration. Closer European integration is a code for
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protectionism. If the rules of the 'free market' were
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applied the EC would be out-competed by the US and
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Japan. European capitalist economies are heavily
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dependant on agriculture and traditional manufacturing
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industries. Through CAP (the Common Agricultural
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Policy) subsidies and guaranteed price levels Europe's
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farmers are protected against US and Third World
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competition. Similarly EC subsidies prop up the EC
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coal, shipbuilding and steel industries.
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The main force driving the EC to Maastricht is the
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decline of EC competitiveness on the world economy and
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the need therefore for tougher measures to insulate the
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EC from more dynamic capitalist economies. The
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reduction in internal border controls, the
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standardisation of VAT rates, and so on isn't occuring
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in the interests of 'European harmony', but in the hope
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that EC countries will increase trade among themselves.
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They also hope that a unified Euro-economy would be
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better able to withstand the worst effects of
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competition from Japan and North America.
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Instinctively, many people support the idea of
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integration, they see it as a move towards a world
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community, a 'brotherhood of man'. However, the
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European Community is in many ways a bit of a misnomer,
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as the EC creates as many divisions as it dissolves.
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Other economies, particularly those of the Japanese and
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the Third World are seen as a threat.
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"Fortress Europe" seeks to unite the European bosses and
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workers against the peoples of the rest of the world.
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Integration means a tightening of immigration controls.
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Euro-racism is not seen only in the far right parties
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but also in the rhetoric of many European governments, a
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la Edith Cresson (the ex-French prime minister who
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suggested that planes should be chartered to fly
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immigrants home). Add to this division the internal
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conflicts within the EC as each country competes against
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each other for European contracts and foreign investors.
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Germany, the richest country is viewed with suspicion by
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the others. Cheaper labour in Greece, Spain and
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Southern Italy is blamed for loss of jobs in Britain and
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the northern countries.
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Many of the EC's supporters in Ireland point to the
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liberalisation of social attitudes that has occured
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through membership. Part of the Maastricht treaty
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prepares the way for European Monetary Union (EMU).
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Before this can occur states have to bring their
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spending, debt and inflation to common levels by cutting
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public spending. The sugar coating to this bitter pill
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is the EC Social Charter also contained in the treaty.
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What is most notable about the Social Charter is that
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unlike the economic and defence agreements it is mostly
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optional.
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Industry (but not the workers) is protected by clauses
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that state the Social Charter directives must avoid
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imposing administrative, financial and legal burdens on
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small and medium-sized enterprises in such a way as
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would hold back their creation and development. So this
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only applies if it costs little. As it won't be the
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workers who decide if it's affordable, the Social
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Charter amounts to little more than an aspiration, which
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can be easily be ignored.
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Those arguing for a YES vote have being trying to do it
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in such a way as to avoid discussing the mechanisms
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behind the EC. The line is "if you're not in you can't
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win". On the most basic level this is a
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misrepresentation of the case. If any country votes
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against the treaty, it falls for every country. On
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another level this argument implies a level of unity or
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consensus that simply does not exist.
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Most countries are looking for exceptions to different
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bits, for example France and Luxembourg are unhappy
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about the provision giving all EC citizens the right to
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vote or stand as candidates in local and European
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Community elections across the community. England is
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split on the EMU and has opted out of the Social
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Charter. More importantly, EMU is dependant on German
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support, on a German government report due in 1996 on
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the fitness of countries to enter union. The EC is more
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like a cattle mart than one big happy family.
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On the £6 billion it should be noted that it is depended
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on two things. Firstly, that on applying, we are
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actually OKed to receive the money (which is quite
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likely). Secondly, that the money is there in the first
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place to give to us. The £6 billion depends on the EC
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getting agreement on proposals, which involves
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increasing the overall EC budget by a third, a proposal
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already rejected by Britain. Finally, and most
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importantly, its extremely unlikely that this carrot
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will ever be given to workers. It will go on road
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building, grants for rich businesspeople and probably to
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some of their golf clubs - just as lottery money has.
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So what we are being asked is how best to run European
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capitalism. This is a strange position for socialists
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to be in. We are opposed to capitalism because it is
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unfair, authoritarian, unproductive and prone to
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continual crisis. It is a very uncaring and inefficient
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way to run society. Yet within this framework we are
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being asked which way the bosses should go.
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If this was all we were being asked, our response would
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be to ignore the question as irrelevant to us. If
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somebody is opposed to capital punishment, it is
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meaningless to ask them should executions be carried out
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by gun or guillotine. We support solidarity between the
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international working class. We don't want to tell the
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bosses how to run capitalism, we want to shut it down.
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However the Maastricht treaty in particular covers two
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other things besides monetary union. It is these that
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determine how we will vote. These are the questions of
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European defence and the Protocol.
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Armies don't exist to defend populations but rather to
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defend governments, to defend capital and to defend
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markets. Wars have an economic base to them, the Gulf
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War being the most recent example. That Kuwait was
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involved was a handy coincidence as it helped sell the
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war as liberation to the populations at home. Much the
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same situation is occuring in Yugoslavia, with rival
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armies invading neighbouring regions.
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Yet the UN isn't likely to invade because Yugoslavia
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doesn't contain oil or any necessary commodity. We
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oppose any country forming a military alliance because
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we know from what we've seen before that military power
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is used to protect markets, not a very good reason for
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dying. Because we oppose any military alliances of
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capitalist governments we will be voting NO to
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Maastricht.
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The Protocol is an extra addition to the Maastricht
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Treaty. It simply forbids Irish citizens to appeal to
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Europe on issues surrounding the Eighth Amendment to the
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Constitution. When the clinics and the student unions
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were taken to court for providing abortion information
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they both appealed to Europe in order to try to reverse
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the decision that was made in Ireland. If this protocol
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is passed the door to Europe will be closed to us on
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anything to do with the Eighth Amendment.
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Remember it is the Eighth Amendment that bans
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information on abortion. It is the Eighth Amendment
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that was used to grant an injunction preventing a 14
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year old from travelling to Britain. It is because of
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the Eighth Amendment that Dublin Corporation banned
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Womens Health books from the libraries. It is because
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of the Eighth Amendment that Cosmopolitan, Company and
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other womens' magazines censor the ads. for abortion
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clinics in their Irish editions. The Maastricht
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Protocol ensures that none of these issues can be dealt
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with by Europe.
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In a practical sense, this is little loss, as the EC in
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the past tended not to solve our problems for us. An
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appeal to Europe rarely results in a positive change for
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the better on the ground here. The EC does not want to
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rock the economic boat by enforcing extremely
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contentious decisions on a conservative country. It is
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very clear that if we are to win on the abortion issue,
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we must win it in Ireland. However, that said, in moral
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terms, the Maastricht Protocol is an addition to all the
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defeats we have suffered in the last 10 years. It may
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not be a very important addition, it's not a very major
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defeat, but every time we loose it makes it more
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difficult for people to keep on fighting to change
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Irish society. For this reason we will be voting NO to
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Maastricht.
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Of course, in many ways the most interesting things
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about the Protocol is its existence at all. When the
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treaty was first negotiated, no mention of this protocol
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was made in the Irish media, no discussion, no nothing.
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If the case of the 14 year old had not arisen it is
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questionable whether we would be aware of it at all.
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Yet this was negotiated 'in our interests' by a
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government which was responding to pressure from
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someone. And they call this democracy!
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