Sir, The provisions in the new Treaty of Amsterdam relating to the common defence policies of the EU have effectively diluted similar provisions on this subject in the Maastricht Treaty.
I am pleased that the FrancoGerman proposal to set out a clear path towards Western European Union/EU amalgamation has been defeated.
There is no great desire in Ireland to see us join up as a full member of the Western European Union, the Partnership for Peace or Nato.
All these organisations have either implicit of explicit mutual defence guarantees, access to nuclear weapons and the capability to carry out acts of aggression.
The Irish people are proud of Irish Defence Forces' role in peacekeeping and peace enforcement missions around the world.
feel they are more comfortable with continuing participation in peacekeeping as opposed to signing up to any of the trinity of defence organisations listed above.
While the Amsterdam Summit clearly achieved a lot in certain spheres, it is clear that the desire at a European level to implement a common EU defence policy is waning.
I hope this non commitment to full membership of the mainstream European defence organisations continues when the White Paper on Defence Policy is published in a year's time by the new Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrat government.
People who have opposed the European Union on the grounds that it was likely that a European army would be formed now can take solace from the clear results of the Amsterdam Summit that a fully fledged European common defence policy is simply not on the national or European agenda.
Yours, etc.
MEP, Navan,
Co Meath.