The meaning of EU membership

Sir, – The article by Eoin Drea (“Make no mistake, this will be a more eastern, more Balkan EU. What will that mean for Ireland?” Opinion, December 18th) requires a response. The undoubted potential difficulties for Ireland associated with Ukrainian membership were discussed already at length and in a balanced way in an Editorial in your paper (September 14th).

There will for sure have to be substantially increased net contributions to the EU budget. However, the main economic benefit for Ireland from EU membership is unhindered access to the Single Market, the value of which it has been estimated, in terms of addition to national output, dwarfs any direct net contribution made. Even more important, if the Ukrainian war were to escalate beyond its boundaries, the human and financial costs for Ireland could be devastating.

Mr Drea is also concerned about the protection of our veto power in relation to corporate taxation. He mistakenly claims that if Germany and France already “desire” to remove the veto power in certain areas, Ireland must accede. In fact, every country must agree to remove the veto, regardless of the position of these two countries.

Even with qualified majority, the votes of the big five EU countries would count for little if enough small member states vote against. There is, in fact, very substantial protection of the interests of small countries in the decision-making structures of the EU.

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It is not just Orbán/Hungary who have recently made a mockery of the veto power. Ireland has also used its veto power, granted in a much less existential context, to prevent/delay changes to corporate taxation measures in the EU, despite the dubious basis for such distortionary practices.

It is, as pointed out already, unfettered access to the Single Market which primarily drives our economic success. The veto power was put in place to protect unquestioned vital national interests, not as a bargaining chip in EU decision making.

In the midst of this debate, let us be clear about the rationale for the EU. By pooling decision making with other EU countries we do not cede national control, because without it there would in fact be an almost total loss of national control.

This applies, for example, not just to trade, but also to climate change, immigration, pandemics and illegal trafficking of people. And, of course, security, not only in the traditional sense but also in relation to energy/food/water supply. – Yours, etc,

JOHN O’HAGAN,

Department of Economics,

Trinity College Dublin

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