Ireland must unblock Lisbon soon says De Rossa
Issued : Wednesday 8 October, 2008
Statement by Proinsias De Rossa MEP
Dublin Labour MEP Proinsias De Rossa speaking today in the European Parliament debate on the preparation of next weeks European Summit has said: 'it is my view that sooner rather than later the Irish Government must seek to resolve the road-block to Lisbon, and, should do so by maintaining Ireland as a full member - not as a semi-detached member to which opt outs would relegate us. We need Lisbon now more than ever to strengthen Europe globally and to respond effectively to citizens' concerns.
This would restore Ireland's rapidly declining goodwill in Europe, and in fact is necessary to enable the EU to cope with crises such as the current one more effectively. It should be obvious to everyone at this stage that anyone who argues that Ireland can defend the social and economic interests of our citizens by opting out of various aspects of Lisbon, thereby removing ourselves from the decision making process, is misleading the people.
'The Euro is an example of what Europe can achieve when it seriously shares sovereignty. The Euro demonstrates beyond doubt that rather than being a threat, that Europe is essential to Ireland for its economic survival. It's certain that had Ireland opted to keep the Irish pound, it would have sunk without trace by now with calamitous consequences for everyone.
'The current financial crisis is yet another market meltdown. It has happened because most governments bought into the fairytale that global markets could be self-regulating and they thereby failed to apply democratic controls and oversight on financial institutions that are fundamental to our wellbeing'.
'President Barroso has today admitted that he has had little cooperation from member states in producing a coordinated response to the crisis. He is silent, however, about Commissioner McCreevy's continued resistance to re-regulation of financial markets. Despite his new found rhetoric about regulation his proposals indicate he is incapable of abandoning his neo-liberal ideology. I am therefore deeply concerned that he is going to be one of the Commission's three person monitoring group'.