IRISH policy-makers face a major challenge in trying to build stable relations with a volatile Britain which is going through an identity crisis, according to a book published yesterday.
Britain's European Question: the Issues for Ireland says Britain is likely to be "a major source...of unpredictability in the process of constructing a more united Europe". Meanwhile, Ireland must face the prospect of drifting further economically and politically from Britain should Britain stay out of the single currency, while at the same time maintaining a close relationship in dealing with Northern Ireland.
Britain laces the problem of "how to manage a decline in political prestige and economic power". Until it resolves its own identity, it cannot address Europe calmly and coherently, according to, the book, published by the Institute of European Affairs (IEA).
The book is based on a series of lEA seminars which began in the aftermath of the 1992/93 currency crisis. The seminars were part of a project, led by the Foreign Editor of The Irish Times, Mr Paul Gillespie, and chaired by the former Taoiseach, Dr Garret FitzGerald.
According to Mr Gillespie, the project initially intended to deal primarily with economic relations between Ireland, Britain and Europe in the wake of the currency crisis. But it quickly expanded to include sections on politics and security as well,
"Britain is now going through a crisis of identity following, firstly, the end of its imperial period and, more, recently, the end of the Cold War," he said. This crisis of identity concerned, firstly, how England should in future relate to Scotland and Wales, and, secondly, how Britain should relate to Europe.
These issues and how they are resolved are important for Ireland's economic and political well-being, he went on. British Irish relations had undergone major changes as a result of the evolution of the European Union, and those changes would continue as the debate in Britain evolved.
According to the historian, Dr Ronan Fanning, one of the contributors to the book, decisions by Britain to stay out of the single currency and by Ireland to join "will have the effect of widening the partitionist divide. This point is not regarded as relevant by those involved in the European debate, but the prospect makes no sense in terms of our political aspirations in relation to Northern Ireland".
Dr FitzGerald said membership of the European Community had enabled Ireland to achieve a great degree of economic independence from Britain. But the currency crisis of 1992/93, after which Ireland was finally forced to devalue the Irish pound to follow sterling, showed "we still had not got there fully".
The contributors to the book include academics, business people, public affairs practitioners and journalists. A volume of the 20 papers presented to the seminars associated with the project has also been published by the IEA.