Dana misled voters on treaty - MEP

As the debate over the Nice Treaty referendum result continues, the Connacht-Ulster Fine Gael MEP, Mr Joe McCartin, has accused the Independent MEP, Ms Dana Rosemary Scallon, of "grossly misleading" voters about the issues involved.

In a response to last week's interview with the Connacht-Ulster Independent MEP in "Out of the West", published after the referendum result, Mr McCartin accused his constituency colleague of being deliberately misleading. He said Ms Scallon had "clarified her position" in the Irish Times interview in a way she had not done during the Nice Treaty campaign, and "for anyone to allege that support for the treaty could lead to introduction of abortion here is a black lie".

In the interview, Ms Scallon said she was convinced the Nice Treaty could pave the way for a European constitution that could allow for abortion in Ireland. "If we agree to the Treaty of Nice, we politically endorse a Charter of Fundamental Rights, declared by the European heads of state in Nice last December," she said. "There is nothing to stop that becoming legally, rather than politically, binding. That charter can be used to bring abortion into Ireland through the European Court of Justice, and we will be helpless."

Mr McCartin told The Irish Times that this interpretation had no basis whatsoever. "The Charter of Fundamental Rights is a set of pious hopes which was not appended to the Treaty of Nice, and its only association with the treaty is that it was declared by the heads of state in the same city," he said.

"It is not legally binding, and even the Bavarian Catholics, who would not approve anything that threatened Catholic teaching in any way, approved of it. If this is what Ms Scallon was telling her electorate, there is every good reason to hold a referendum here again."

Mr McCartin is a member of the Christian Democrats (EPP-ED Group) in the European Parliament, with which Ms Scallon has been associated. He said he and his Fine Gael colleagues in the group knew nothing about Ms Scallon's intention to campaign against the treaty until they read it in the newspapers.

Mr McCartin had defended Ms Scallon's right to run in the 1999 European elections at a time when questions were being asked about her domicile. The Derry-born singer had been living in the US, but returned to Ireland to stand in the 1997 presidential election as an independent candidate.

On her election to the Connacht-Ulster European Parliament constituency in 1999, Mr McCartin says he offered her logistical support before she set up her own office. He also suggested that she be invited to attend the strategy group comprising four Fine Gael MEPs, which met regularly to receive briefings and discuss issues before voting with the EPP-ED bloc.

"She promised when she joined the alliance to support the basic principles, without necessarily voting with the group on every issue," he said. He has since proposed that this informal relationship be dissolved. However "we didn't ask her to leave," he claimed.

"To be accused now, as she is suggesting, of trying to introduce abortion by stealth is outrageous. It is not even up for discussion." Mr McCartin described the defence issue as "the other great untruth" articulated by opponents of the treaty during the campaign. Fine Gael supported a common defence and security policy, which would ensure a far safer Europe, and this had already been approved in the Maastricht Treaty, he said. "It doesn't mean we are being dragged into a defence alliance against our will."

The Government, however, had shaken people's confidence on this issue, he claimed. "Mr Ahern made a bad mistake when he and Ray Burke, then foreign affairs spokesman, promised, while in opposition that Ireland would not join the Partnership for Peace (PfP). They also promised a referendum on the issue. Next thing, Fianna Fail was in government, Ireland joined the PfP, there was no referendum, and this undermined people's trust in politics."

Fears about the impact on Ireland of qualified majority voting and enhanced co-operation were also unfounded, Mr McCartin said. Qualified majority voting already applies in the case of a number of European Council decisions, but is to be extended under the treaty to facilitate decision-making in a larger union. "It will still represent 75 per cent of the population of Europe so the dice is loaded against easier decision-making," he said.

Irish and other European civil servants had worked on the Nice Treaty for four years, he said. "In my experience, you can trust democracy in Europe. It is vital and I will defend it to the last. If anything, the Nice Treaty doesn't go far enough in this regard."

Ireland's No vote had "done more to the image of Ireland in two hours than we could repair in 10 years", Mr McCartin claimed. Another referendum would have to be held, he said, but he warned the Government against trying to pretend anything had been changed.