Military neutrality could not be sustained as a moral principle in all situations, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has told the National Forum on Europe in Dublin Castle.
A submission presented by the ICTU general secretary, Mr David Begg, said many people had voted against the Nice Treaty out of fear that joining the European Rapid Reaction Force would compromise Irish neutrality. "The reality is that the US is the de facto rapid reaction force."
It would be better to have a common foreign and security policy to assist the European Union in playing a coherent and effective role. "We have no desire in congress to see the establishment of a huge military force in Europe," Mr Begg said. They were talking about situations of humanitarian intervention.
Citing examples of genocide in Africa and the Balkans, he continued: "There are times when interventions have to be made." In his mind, it was "very sensible and indeed moral" to have a 60,000- strong Rapid Reaction Force for humanitarian interventions.
There was a problem of legitimacy for the EU arising from "a perceived democratic deficit". Paradoxically, to get more political accountability it was probably necessary to deepen the process of European integration.
Mr Begg said the Convention on the Future of Europe at the end of the month should "consider the possibility of a constitution for Europe which, when endorsed by the people, would be capable of gaining more legitimacy for the institutions".
Responding, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said there was an evolving but "utterly confusing" debate about neutrality. Noting people's concerns about its preservation, he said the single issue on which he received the "most calls" was on what Ireland should be doing about the genocide in East Timor.
The newly elected president of the European Parliament, Mr Pat Cox, told the forum that on February 28th he would be opening the convention in Brussels.
"I have insisted that the entire work of that convention will be available on broadcast satellite and video-streaming for internet, not because if you lead the horse to water, necessarily, the horse will drink but because you cannot exclude. It must be something open to everyone."
In Ireland and other member states, there had been a tendency to view the EU as a foreign policy matter, "yet the EU is deeply enmeshed in everything we do".
Arguing for the primacy of politicians over diplomats and technocrats, he said: "We need to open up a greater role for the Houses of the Oireachtas. That's a matter for Government and Opposition and I will say no more except to say there is no European constraint in doing that."
Prof Drude Dahlerup, a leader of the successful Danish campaign against joining the single European currency, questioned the democratic basis of the project for European integration. Pointing to the low turnout in elections to the European Parliament, she continued: "Mr Cox, you cannot make a democracy without a people . . . and there is no European people."
Rejecting the theory that giving more power to the European Parliament would generate greater interest among voters, she said the turnout had decreased rather than increased, from 63 per cent to the "shocking" figure of 49.9 per cent in the last elections. In Sweden, there was a "big shock" because only 39 per cent voted, compared with 80 to 85 per cent in elections to the national parliament.
There was also a lack of dialogue between European decision-makers and the people. This was partly a problem of language; the strength of Europe was its diversity but the proliferation of languages prevented dialogue.
"You have to have a political system that works on a language you understand. And we do not have a European press, we do not have a European television which everybody watches or reads."
Prof Dahlerup said the EU's "lack of accountability was closely associated with the lack of a critical press". There was also a problem arising from official reaction to the No votes in the Danish and Irish referendums. "Why should people engage themselves in EU matters when not even the result of a referendum is respected?"
The forum was adjourned until next Thursday at 11 a.m.