Blow for Lisbon as union joins No side
THE Government's Lisbon Treaty campaign was dealt another blow last night as a prominent trade union added its voice to the No campaign.
The country's largest craft union, the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU), which represents 45,000 workers, yesterday announced its intention to encourage members to vote against the treaty on June 12. It joins UNITE, representing both AMICUS and the ATGWU, in advocating a No vote.
Yesterday, the Irish Farmers Association (IFA), which has warned of a No vote if its concerns about World Trade Organisation talks are not allayed, intensified its campaign with a letter to all 166 TDs and 60 senators.
Threat
IFA President Padraig Walshe told elected representatives the threat to farmers' livelihoods from EU Commissioner Peter Mandelson's WTO cuts was the "single obstacle" to farmers voting Yes in the referendum.
Mr Walshe insisted that "sensitive product" status for beef on the conditions being negotiated in the WTO was not a viable situation. Under this arrangement, imports from Brazilian ranchers would increase by 780,000 tonnes at very low prices, and force Irish cattle prices down.
"Historically, Irish farmers saw the European Commission as the independent body that defended their interests.
"It is crystal clear to me now that Mr Mandelson has single-handedly undermined that belief," Mr Walshe said. "Irish farmers have zero confidence in Mr Mandelson to represent their interests. They see him as selling out their futures."
The IFA president added that it was a matter of public record that the IFA has always adopted a positive position on EU integration.
"I still want to do that, but if there is a negative threat from Geneva, farmers are unlikely to vote against their interests," he said.
But Fianna Fail MEP Sean O Neachtain last night claimed that Ireland would face "economic destitution" if the treaty was rejected.
Moving away from the EU in an "isolationist straightjacket" on the back of a No vote was the last message that Ireland should send out to international investors, he said.
Warned
"Ireland now needs Europe more than Europe needs us. The American multinationals have already warned us that a No vote will result in lower levels of investment coming into Ireland from America," he said. "Lower levels of investment from America into Ireland will mean less jobs being created in our economy."
Although the IFA has not explicitly stated its position on the Lisbon Treaty yet, the TEEU yesterday said it would be voting No on the back of recent judgments by the European Court of Justice that had shown that the pendulum had "swung against workers' rights and in favour of big business".
"In the circumstances, it would be foolish to provide the institutions of the European Union with more power," the union's general secretary Eamon Devoy said.
See Business, Page 47
- Aine Kerr Political Correspondent
