From: "The Workers' Party of Ireland" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed, 16 May 2001 13:48:47 +0100 To: "The Workers' Party of Ireland" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Workers' Party of Ireland launches campaign for NO vote on Treaty of Nice NEWS RELEASE >From the Workers' Party of Ireland Press Office Wednesday, 16 May 2001 NICE TREATY CAN BE DEFEATED - GARLAND The President of the Workers' Party of Ireland, Se�n Garland, has said that it is entirely possible to defeat the Nice Treaty in the forthcoming Irish referendum and force the re-negotiation of a Treaty that will protect the democratic rights of the citizens of Europe. Speaking today (Wednesday) at a press conference in Dublin to launch the party's campaign for a "No" vote on the Nice Treaty, Mr. Garland said, "It is our firm view that we can succeed in mobilising sufficient voters to win this referendum. The attempts by Government ministers and supporters of the Nice Treaty to rubbish opponents of the Treaty as marginal groups falls flat when we recollect that 38% of those who voted in the Amsterdam Treaty referendum in this country voted NO. Much has happened since that time and we believe there is a greater awareness and much more criticism of the European Union over the past years which makes a 51% NO vote very probable". "One of the most important aspects of the Nice Treaty is the move away from the equality of nations, a fundamental of the founding members. We are now being asked to accept a situation where the larger member states are more equal than the smaller nations. If this treaty is ratified by the Irish people it will be possible for large states such as Germany and France, combined with any third member state, to block any decision which they consider unfavourable to them. On the other hand it will be impossible due to the number of votes allocated to smaller nations for the smaller member countries to achieve a similar result for their interests", said Mr. Garland. "Ireland is the only country in the EU which is holding a referendum and therefore many millions of people in mainland Europe are looking to Irish voters to defend democracy and to resist the growing militarisation of the European Union", said the Workers' Party President. John Jefferies, Press Officer, Tel: (01) 874 0716 (office) / (086) 300 4573 (mobile) The Workers' Party of Ireland 23 Hill Street Dublin 1 Ireland Tel: +353-1-8740716 Fax: +353-1-8748702 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: www.workers-party.org _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
