EU DEFENCE:SOCIALIST PARTY MEP Joe Higgins yesterday attacked church leaders for their position on the Lisbon Treaty, arguing that the treaty's provisions relating to the European Defence Agency should be grounds for advocating a No vote.
This week the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference issued a statement to confirm that, contrary to the assertions of some No campaign groups, the treaty does not undermine the State’s existing legislation on abortion.
While stressing that they did not seek to take sides in the Lisbon debate, the bishops added: “The Lisbon Treaty is of the greatest importance, not only for us here in Ireland but also for the future shape of the European project.”
At a press conference hosted by the Peace and Neutrality Alliance and the Irish Anti-War Movement yesterday, Mr Higgins, who is the only Irish MEP calling for a No vote, argued that the sections within the treaty related to the European Defence Agency should be a matter of “massive public debate”, given that it was the first time that “the EU armaments industry is given a formal place” in an EU treaty.
“What this means is the European Union is putting in its treaties a provision endorsing itself as a major arms merchant for the world.”
Mr Higgins described the armaments industry as “the guilty secret the EU political establishment likes to keep hidden”, and claimed the treaty was an attempt to “walk the Irish people blindfold into a militarised Europe”.
“How these provisions escape the notice of the Christian churches which have been endorsing the Lisbon Treaty is something they should explain,” Mr Higgins said.
“To have a major economic power bloc blatantly providing for more criminal wastage of resources on weapons of massive destruction in the face of massive poverty and destitution on our globe should surely be a cause for strenuous objection.”