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Irish neutrality unaffected by Lisbon Treaty (19th Sept 2009)

September 23, 2009 at 1:39 pm Leave a comment

The question of whether Ireland’s neutral status will change under Lisbon has continued to niggle voters even after the government obtained a legal protocol to enshrine Ireland’s policy of military neutrality. Campaigners for a ‘No’ vote are still painting scenarios of an increasingly militarised post-Lisbon Europe, with Ireland forced to draft its young people into European armies.
One of the reasons these fears continue to circulate is because Lisbon WILL involve changes to the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy. While taking these changes into account, it is necessary to remember that they do not interfere with Ireland’s sovereign neutrality.
The Lisbon Treaty contains two clauses concerning ‘solidarity’ and ‘mutual assistance’, which oblige member states to help one other in the event of armed aggression, terrorist attack or natural or manmade disaster. But, each country can decide the nature of that assistance for themselves.
Lisbon also extends the range of EU peacekeeping operations to include disarmament, military advice and post-conflict stabilisation. It allows member states to cooperate more closely on military matters if they so wish. It legalises the European Defence Agency, a body aimed at improving the EU’s defence capabilities and tasked with organising rapid response units or ‘battle groups’ for conflict situations overseas.
The crucial point is that Ireland’s policy of neutrality remains protected at all times by two safeguards – the veto and the ‘triple lock’. Any decision on EU common defence must be made unanimously by all 27 member states. No Irish troops can be deployed on an EU mission without the prior approval of the government, the Dáil and the UN. There is nothing in the treaty about a European army or conscription.
‘Put simply, our neutrality remains firmly in the hands of the Irish people, and any change to that would require another referendum,’ said Munster Fianna Fáil MEP Brian Crowley

Entry filed under: Lisbon II, Neutrality and the EU. Tags: .