In the course of the Lisbon Treaty campaign in Ireland the most vocal critics of the Treaty came up with some startling exaggerations and misrepresentations. These essentially played on fears about loss of sovereignty, a sensitive area for a country that had struggled so long to achieve independence. In reality, of course, the reforms proposed under the Treaty were pragmatic ones, designed to bring greater coherence to the work of a Union of 27 Member States.
Less than two years after the entry into force of the Treaty, we are beginning to see these reforms in effect. The European Council has taken up the central strategic role which the Treaty envisages for it. As its President, Herman Van Rompuy has proved an effective builder of consensus in the face of an economic and financial crisis for which there was no precedent. As he pointed out on a recent visit to Dublin, when he took up office the toolbox on that side was empty. Over the past eighteen months the European Union has put in place a panoply of measures to deal with the crisis. We have developed new stabilisation mechanisms and have been ready to adjust them to meet changing and anticipated demands of the situation. We have greatly strengthened our approach to economic governance and introduced a new system of agreeing and coordinating our economic and fiscal policies. Going even further, 23 Member States have signed up to the Euro Plus Pact under which they are committed to developing ambitious targets to ensure the long-term sustainability of the European economy. These are all necessary accompaniments to the sharing of a currency. At this stage, our collective determination to do whatever is needed to ensure the financial stability should be beyond any doubt.
Our critics still accuse us of dithering and indecisiveness. The opposite is surely the case. After years of debate over the institutional structures of the European Union, we have agreed in a few short months to far-reaching economic reforms and to a much greater degree of integration than could ever have been imagined in the course of the Lisbon Treaty negotiation. The sovereignty of countries like Ireland has been imperilled not by the European Union but as a result of economic mismanagement and financial greed. The European Union is, in fact, helping us to restore our economic sovereignty through a financial assistance programme of some €85 billion, a proof of the solidarity that has always characterised the European project.
For me the events of recent months are the perfect illustration of the phenomenon that Schuman so presciently described over sixty years ago, “Europe will not be made all at once or in accordance with a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity”.
Your view of the measures taken in response to the financial crisis will, I suspect, depend on the extent to which you want “more Europe” or “less Europe”. Like most people in Ireland, I have always been convinced of the benefits of closer integration. Our experience of rapid social and economic development supported by our partners over the past forty years underpins this conviction. I am also convinced that the new financial disciplines that we have adopted, though tough and challenging, will prove beneficial, helping to restore competitiveness and support our recovery.
