Dave’s Rants

The Nice Vote is possible the most important referendum the country has ever had so I’ve put together my thought here.

A Majority Yes Vote will help redraw the map of Europe and place us at the heart of the new Europe, this can only be beneficial to Ireland, as I will outline in this piece. A No vote will mean that we have vetoed enlargement of the EU and stopped the aspirations of 10 countries by stopping their entry to the EU and receiving all the benefits we gained during our 29 years in the EU. The No to Nice campaign would have you believe that enlargement can go ahead without Nice because of the Treaty of Amsterdam, but this is wholly incorrect. The Treaty of Amsterdam only allows for 5 new applicants, which obviously means that some of the applicants will have to be denied entry to the EU. What gives us the right to decide which applicants can and can’t join? If you vote Yes to Nice all countries who wish to join the EU and meet the strict criteria will be able to join. A No Vote stops this.

By Voting Yes we can serve our own national economic self interest. Voting No – as the No to Nice lobby claims – will not “save jobs” and is in fact a certain way to lose them. Investors both Irish and International will see it as a vote against EU participation. These investors see us as part of the largest and most lucrative single market in the world. Their continued investment is based on the certainty of our continuing commitment to Europe, which ensures they have access to this market. A yes vote keeps this certainty, a no vote replaces it with uncertainty – the enemy of investment, the investment that creates jobs and generates the resources needed to improve public services.

Voting Yes does not as the No lobby claim, remove Ireland’s veto on tax harmonization and in fact secures the power of national governments to set tax rates.

Voting Yes does not as the same groups claim ensure that Ireland will become involved in “bloody conflicts just because the EU says we must”. It in fact (because of the attached Seville Declarations) means that Ireland would first have to amend the Constitution to take part in any EU common defense policy. In fact Voting Yes makes Irelands future neutrality more certain than Voting No.

I hope I’ve convinced you that you should vote yes, but no matter what your views are please exercise your democratic right on Saturday and go out and Vote.

Discuss At : http://makeashorterlink.com/?I35D24922
Originally From: http://www.davidoneill.tk