LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
The Lisbon Treaty commits Ireland to this new legal obligation:
Article 28A.7
If a Member State is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other Member States shall have towards it an obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their power, in accordance with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.
There are two more sentences in that subsection of the treaty:
“This shall not prejudice the specific character of the security and defence policy of certain Member States. Commitments and cooperation in this area shall be consistent with commitments under the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which, for those States which are members of it,remains the foundation of their collective defence and the forum for its implementation.". (That form of words is not new - it first appeared in the Maastricht Treaty – despite Irish objections at the time about making a link in that Treaty between the EC and Nato.}
The government line
The government line now is that this promise has no effect on Ireland. They say that we are still ‘neutral’ or (as some government supporters on p.ie say) ‘non-aligned’
In a long article about Irish soldiers’ duties in the new EU Battlegroups Minister for Defence O’Dea did not mention the new promise at all. Instead he emphasised what he called the obligations Ireland took on under the treaty of Amsterdam and the treaty of Nice. He said these led to the EU Battlegroups that are now in place.(Irish Times 2 Jan 08)
What does this new promise mean?
This is a new promise. It is not one that Ireland has ever made before to the EU member states. It is a promise that is written in the middle of the notoriously unreadable Lisbon text, but we need to be sure we understand it before we vote on it. It is different to what was in previous EU treaties but the government is not explaining what the new promise will mean.
There are a couple of questions that might help to put the situation we are getting into into a practical context:
- What is the effect of this new promise on Ireland?
- What do the Battlegroups do if there is an attack on a member state?
- Why does the Minister not tell us?
....
More new provisions
The new promise is in the part of the Treaty dealing with ‘Common Security and Defence Policy’. That section will have some more new provisions according to Lisbon:
“The Common Security and Defence Policy will have a new section 2:
‘Section 2
Provisions on the Common Security and Defence Policy…
‘1. The common security and defence policy shall be an integral part of the common foreign and security policy. It shall provide the Union with an operational capacity drawing on civilian and military assets. The Union may use them on missions outside the Union for peace-keeping, conflict prevention and strengthening international security in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter. The performance of these tasks shall be undertaken using capabilities provided by the Member States.’;
‘2. The common security and defence policy shall include the progressiveframing of a common Union defence policy. This will lead to a common defence, when the European Council, acting unanimously, so decides. It shall in that case recommend to the Member States the adoption of such a decision in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements.’;
‘3. Member States shall make civilian and military capabilities available to the Union for the implementation of the common security and defence policy, to contribute to the objectives defined by the Council. Those Member States which together establish multinational forces may also make them available to the common security and defence policy. Member States shall undertake progressively to improve their military capabilities. “
......
EU becomes a military pact
The EU sees itself as a kind of military pact. It has set up a military infrastructure. It has a military HQ which publishes its views on a section of the main EU website.The mutual aid promise in Lisbon is written in more absolute terms that the equivalent mutual aid promise contained in Art. 5 of the Nato Treaty. (In Nato it is specifically agreed that every Nato member can make its own decision about whether it will help if another member is attacked. That is left out of the EU Lisbon promise – government supporters on politics.ie say this is ok because decisions on how to respond to any attack have to be unanimous, and they say this cannot mean Ireland going to war – at least not unless the Dáil says so).
Why is the government denying this?
What is the government afraid of? Does it think that traditional Fianna Fáil support would not like to vote for a military pact? Does it think that people might not believe them when they say Ireland is still 'neutral' after Lisbon?
Originally Posted by Citizen