New Fiscal Treaty

Labour MEP, Proinsias De Rossa has called for the early ratification in Ireland of the new Fiscal Treaty. While accepting the necessity for fiscal responsibility, it is generally believed in the European Parliament that this Treaty is largely unnecessary, changes very little, and will not of itself solve the economic, debt and social crisis being experienced in some European States. It is also clear that achieving an actual European investment programme for growth and jobs requires renewed pressure to convince the austerity dogmatists who currently dominate at the EU level that they are destroying the capacity to grow out of the crisis.

Due to the appalling debt burden the Irish people has inherited from the previous government's decisions, Ireland has to use what negotiating clout it has to ensure we can shift some of that burden, rather than in an unwinnable squabble with other European States for or against this Treaty, and at the same time push for a real jobs and growth programme backed with EU resources.

While there is much that one can criticise about the fiscal treaty, I welcome the achievements of the Irish government in the negotiations which ensured that the fiscal rules do not have to be locked into our constitution. This is important not because it avoids a referendum on that particular issue, but because the rigidity of a constitutional text would create a strait-jacket for this and all Irish governments into the foreseeable future, no matter how the political, economic and policy landscape may change. I would have thought that both Sinn Fein and Fianna fail would welcome this achievement rather than playing silly games around the issue of a referendum. Are they really serious that they want the government to spend up to €20m on a referendum even if the Attorney General declares it to be unnecessary? What expenditure cuts will they identify to pay for it?