Political debate about EU in North is atrophied

World View: Northern Ireland's political engagement with the European Union has been adversely affected by the suspension of…

World View: Northern Ireland's political engagement with the European Union has been adversely affected by the suspension of the devolution institutions, just as many other features of its democratic life have been, writes Paul Gillespie

For a place that has benefited a great deal from EU funding this is a substantial setback, which will only be properly remedied when and if they are restored again after elections and the installation of a new power-sharing coalition.

There is growing impatience in Brussels, as in London and Dublin, with the long delays in bringing that about and the complacent introversion involved; if the efforts to do so over the next few weeks fail, the parties there should not assume such goodwill would be as readily available the next time.

At a conference this week in Belfast on Northern Ireland and the future of Europe it was widely assumed people there have little influence on shaping it, which is reflected in public and media apathy or indifference.

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There are, of course, the customary networks of public officials, business, academic and non-governmental activists dealing with the EU, and a successful Northern Ireland lobbying office in Brussels. Northern officials and ministers are directly involved in the United Kingdom representation in Brussels, where they have to argue their case for special treatment.

The North's three MEPs work together very well to secure structural funding, CAP transfers and special project financing. These are substantial sums, although overall they are dwarfed by transfers from the British exchequer, now running at well over 50 per cent of the North's gross annual product.

But the MEPs have had little or no input to the Convention on the Future of Europe. There are no Northern Irish MPs on the House of Commons or House of Lords committees on European affairs. Of the political parties, only Sinn Féin has published anything on the convention's report, which forms the basis on which the next treaty will be negotiated.

There was a one-day debate on its terms of reference before the Northern Ireland assembly was suspended last year; but the assembly had no committee dealing with EU affairs. And while there is provision for EU issues to be dealt with in the North-South and east-west bodies, they had not really figured on their agendas before suspension.

Thus political debate about the EU in the North is atrophied, along with most of its democratic life, pending a restoration of the devolved institutions. There is a systematic fragmentation of its political representation on the EU.

This is in contrast to the position in Scotland and Wales, where the devolved systems have been more effective in dealing with Brussels and there is more political and media debate about Europe.

It also contrasts with the Republic, about to embark on its sixth EU presidency next January, and which has had a definite influence on the convention and a regular, if patchy, political and media debate about it in anticipation of the inter-governmental conference and another referendum on the constitutional treaty it will negotiate, following the two on Nice.

The North's problems in dealing with the EU are compounded by a disjunction between its predominantly sovereigntist or Eurosceptical discourse and rhetoric in dealing with it, compared to the power-sharing and sovereignty-pooling aspects of the Belfast Agreement, which itself reflects notable features of the EU's institutions and political processes. Both unionist parties are Eurosceptical, influenced by British political and media culture and worried by the effects that integrationist approaches will have on relations with the Republic. Intriguingly, they share some of these attitudes with Sinn Féin's sovereigntist opposition to the euro and much of the convention's draft constitutional treaty in the name of defending the nation-state.

In contrast, the SDLP has embraced European integration as a model for Irish reconciliation, thereby arousing unionist suspicions on both counts. The Alliance party and women's movements are also enthusiastic integrationists.

If assembly elections are followed by a restoration of power-sharing before Christmas there will be an opportunity once again to bring political rhetoric and practice more in line with each other in the European elections next June. But one SDLP participant at the conference recalled being rung by a well-known journalist after publication of the party's manifesto for the 1986 European Parliament elections, asking why it was all about Europe.

That disjunction, between Europe as the other, a matter of foreign affairs, and everyday life and domestic politics, was another preoccupation at this conference. Speakers pointed out that it is not an either/or but a both/and relationship, a continuum of policy-making in a system of multi-levelled government which begins at local, regional and national levels but does not end there.

Environmental, agricultural and transport policies in the North, for example, are pervaded by the European dimension. But many politicians and most citizens and media do not make the connection between these levels, despite the fact that all EU directives have involved extensive consultations and negotiations at bureaucratic and political levels.

Northern Ireland is not alone in this, of course. It is precisely such an alienation that the new draft constitutional treaty is designed to address. It sets out the EU's values, institutions, competences and governing processes clearly and accessibly. It provides that national parliaments will have a right to be consulted on legislation prepared by the European Commission and for a much more open procedure for passing legislation.

Sub-national assemblies in the UK, in federal states such as Germany, Belgium and Austria or regional governments in Spain and France, will have to negotiate ways to influence such national decisions. And it is assumed that this greater openness will be reflected in more focused political debate and citizen identification with Europe.

But unless political leaders and parties in Northern Ireland and elsewhere in the EU prepare themselves more effectively for dealing with these different levels, the opportunity to renew political life will be lost.