A chara, - The response of some Eurocrats to the Irish rejection of the Nice Treaty underlines why the Irish people were correct in voting No. The Swedish Foreign Minister, Ms Anna Lindh, said that despite the Irish No vote enlargement would continue as before and that the treaty would not be changed. The European Commissioner for Enlargement, Mr Guenter Verheugen, said: "Such a referendum in one country cannot . . . block the biggest and most important project for the political and economic future of the united Europe.".
For those of us who favour enlargement, and even integration, but are seriously concerned about the integrity of the democratic process in the EU, the message is clear: all members must ratify changes to EU treaties before they can become law, but if a member fails to do so, the changes will go ahead anyway.
Many argued that the referendum on the Nice Treaty was about enlargement and therefore not the time to raise the issue of democratic transparency and accountability. But the truth is that there is no forum, no opportunity, no mechanism, whereby the Irish people can properly raise these concerns.
If the Eurocrats fail to respect our concerns and treat us with contempt by refusing to listen to our demand for more visible and accountable structures, we should vote No the next time too. - Le meas,
C Mac Aonghusa, Baile an tSratha, Tir Chonaill.