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Cóir Date: 19.11.2010 The euro first found its way into our wallets in Ireland in 2002. But its conception in the brain of the EU lies much further back in history. In May 1970, the Werner Report, which had been ordered by the European Commission to assess the possibility of a single currency for what was then the EEC, stated that “considerations of a psychological and political nature militate in favour of the adoption of a sole currency which would confirm the irreversibility of the venture [i.e. European integration].”
Two years later, the French President Georges Pompidou declared that the member states should “move irrevocably to economic and monetary union by 1980.” When Pompidou’s words reached London, the Foreign Secretary Douglas Home remarked to the fanatically europhile Prime Minister, Edward Heath, “The House isn’t going to like this.” “But that” replied Heath, “is what it’s all about.” And that is what it is all about.
From its earliest days, the EU has been interested gaining more power over its member states. Every Treaty, every decision of the European Court of Justice, every Regulation, every Directive has served to further that end. And the EU is not just interested in having power over issues like trade and tariffs between the states. Increasingly, it desires to have power over those states’ internal affairs too – including their fiscal and economic policies.
When we fought the Lisbon Treaty last year, one of the most fiercely contested issues was that of tax. Could the EU force us to increase our competitive corporation tax rate, thus driving away foreign investment in Ireland? “Nonsense,” said the politicians. “Our European partners aren’t interested in that, and besides we’ve got our guarantees ...” Well, last week we were faced with the spectacle of a European Commissioner marching into Dublin to tell our Finance Minster what cuts he should make in the forthcoming budget. And this week we see the Finance Ministers of France, Italy and Austria saying that Ireland’s tax rate is something that might have to be sacrificed in exchange for a bailout by the ECB. And none other than arch-europhile Stephen Collins, writing in the Irish Times on 18 November, says that “the real danger is that other EU states will try to tamper with major national policy issues like the 12.5% corporate tax rate.” So much for those wonderful guarantees.
The government would do well to heed the words of a truly patriotic politician, former French Prime Minister Mèndes-France. When the Treaty of Rome, the cornerstone of the modern European Union, was signed in 1957, he remarked: “France must not become a victim of the Treaty. A democrat may abdicate by giving in to an internal dictatorship, but also by delegating his powers to an external authority.”
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