PD conference on Europe: The Tánaiste warned yesterday against attempts to create a "complete" EU foreign policy.
Arguing against the creation of institutions which would "inevitably fail", Ms Harney said removal of the veto of individual EU states over defence and foreign policy cannot create the political will for unity.
A common EU foreign policy could not have prevented the US from taking action against Iraq, she said. In addition, she said suggestions that the EU might create a military check on the US was a very "dangerous notion".
The adoption of a qualified majority voting policy would not create the will for unity in all circumstances, she said. At a Progressive Democrats' conference on Europe, she said the creation of rules that advanced beyond political reality raised risks of bring the rules and institutions into disrepute when they "inevitably" failed.
"If there had been qualified majority voting on defence or foreign policy, would the outcome of the Iraq crisis have been any different? I don't think so.
"It would not have been much of an achievement if a European foreign policy merely had prevented some member-states from taking part with the Americans in the war on Iraq. It is inconceivable in the foreseeable future that these member-states would allow themselves to be so prevented.
"Discussions in Ireland and elsewhere about building Europe as a counterweight to America don't seem fully thought through." She said areas in which EU states already agreed on foreign policy should be pursued. However, she cautioned against "extreme views" which suggested that the Iraqi war had dealt a mortal blow to the prospects of reaching a common policy.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said there was a "manifest tendency to identify problems at a theoretical level" at meetings of the European Council. European solutions to such problems were often based on these analyses, he said.
"Frequently, the solution seems to be the precursor of the problem." Mr McDowell said he did not favour transferring national power to investigate, try, prosecute or punish citizens to the EU.
"Those who clamour for the creation of a European federal system of criminal law, for instance, can point to no clear evidence that it is either necessary or an improvement on the co-operative approach which is being developed at the moment."