PATRICIA McKENNA, MEP,
Sir, - Romano Prodi's latest interview (The Irish Times, June 5th) demonstrates once again how the European Commission cannot help using its political bullying tactics to interfere with the Irish political process.
Mr Prodi claims that Ireland will have to pay a political price should it fail to ratify the Nice Treaty and adds that another rejection will delay the enlargement process. This is the same person who declared a few months ago that enlargement could go ahead without the Nice Treaty being ratified.
He has backtracked on his original statement and now plays the same game as the more powerful EU countries which want to stall enlargement until the rules are changed. This is exactly what the Nice Treaty will do: it will change the rules to create a two-tier Europe with new member-states being granted second-class membership.
Mr Prodi's remarks are sheer scaremongering and are meaningless threats. It is quite outrageous that the President of the European Commission should give the impression that somehow Ireland will be penalised if we say No to Nice again. This highlights the completely undemocratic "carrot and stick" nature of the EU political process.
It is also quite ironic that Romano Prodi should speak about making the EU more democratic while at the same time asking that the Commission, one of the most undemocratic and unrepresentative EU institutions, be granted more sweeping powers.
Furthermore, if the Nice Treaty is ratified, member-states will no longer be guaranteed a seat in this new, more powerful Commission and will for periods of five years be excluded from internal Commission negotiations.
What is democratic about that? - Yours, etc.,
PATRICIA McKENNA, MEP,
European Parliament Offices,
Molesworth Street,
Dublin 2.