Sinn Féin will ask the EU to support tax breaks, more EU funding and exemptions from the Union's state aid rules today to promote an all-island economy in Ireland.
The party will also seek political support for Irish reunification at a conference in Brussels where the party will launch a new policy document on the EU's role in the peace process.
EU Support for Irish Reunification focuses on how the partition of Ireland has led to ideological conflict and uneven economic development in both parts of the island. British policy in Northern Ireland has also led to an unhealthy dependence on public sector employment and a lack of development in Border areas, it says.
The paper pinpoints the development of an all-island economy as the best way to promote economic growth and highlights several ways that the EU can help this process.
It asks the European Commission to exempt Northern Ireland from EU competition regulations on state funding used to finance projects aimed at reunification. Sinn Féin says exempting the North from the regulations would allow for strategic investments to overcome the damaging legacy of partition. The document cites the example of Germany, which in the early 1990s was exempted from similar EU state aid rules.
Sinn Féin recommends the extension of EU funding under the proposed Peace III programme. This €300 million scheme, which still needs to be approved by the European Parliament and member states, would help to cushion the economy in Northern Ireland during a transition phase toward reunification when there is a danger of social tensions and economic decline.