Nice and September 11th

national | miscellaneous | news report Monday October 07, 2002 00:28 by Ken

If the Nice Treaty is defeated, are we prepared for the outcomes of re-negotiations in a political climate dominated by the events of September 11th?

If the Nice Treaty is rejected a second time by the people of Ireland, what will happen? Will the Nice Treaty be quickly amended in response to concerns about neutrality, the occasional loss of a Commissioner, the restrictions placed on our 'national veto', and the changes to Article 133, then presented to us again for our approval? Not likely! No doubt there will be new negotiations, new agreements, maybe even a new treaty, but these negotiations will not be limited to those areas that concern us most. Everything will likely be thrown back on the table, and all of these new negotiations will take place in our post September 11th world, a political environment that is significantly nastier than that which existed during the Nice negotiations. If the people of Ireland are given a chance to vote on a new Treaty, what additional changes will we be battling. Will the main emphasis of the 'No' campaign still be focused on issues of power and control, or would we be more concerned about issues of freedom and oppression? Are we really going to be given a chance to vote for something better?