Fianna Fáil will bear the major political responsibility to secure a victory for the Yes campaign on the Nice Treaty, the President of the European Parliament, Mr Pat Cox, said last night.
Speaking in Killarney, Co Kerry, before an address to the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party, he said: "Its ability to motivate its support is unrivalled. The party has many competitors, but no equals in that regard."
Urging party TDs and senators to campaign on the ground in the weeks ahead, the Independent Munster MEP said: "They have got to get out and meet their own people this time around."
In his speech to the Parliamentary Party, Mr Cox said a second No vote would plunge the European Union's enlargement agenda into a period of uncertainty and potential crisis.
"This is not in the interests of the European Union nor the accession states and most assuredly not in Ireland's own self-interest," he said. "Of all the reasons I think Irish people should vote Yes, the main one is to do with own national self-interest.
"This is not just about our prospects today but also those that will be our legacy to our children. Ireland's power to influence European affairs in our own best interests is not at stake.
"There is too much at stake to be indifferent. There is too much at stake to abstain and stay at home," said Mr Cox, who promised that he will campaign as often as possible during the upcoming campaign.
He told TDs: "The choice is clear. The choice is ours. Our message must be 'Don't risk our future - Vote Yes'. Fianna Fáil is the largest political organisation in the State.
"Ireland's national interest is best served by a Yes vote in the Nice Treaty referendum. Your country needs you - on the ground - bringing the people with you, something on which here in Ireland you have many competitors but no equals."
Earlier he said he would disclose all contributions from all sources made to his personal Yes campaign to the Standards in Public Office Commission 'in the normal way".
Rejecting suggestions that the Yes campaign was in trouble, Mr Cox said it was now critical that a date be set as quickly as possible for the referendum. "We are starting as and from now."
He refused to blame Fianna Fáil more than anyone else for the loss of the first Nice campaign, saying that many quarters, political and otherwise, were at fault for inadequate attention to detail.
The benefits of European Union membership for Ireland had been highlighted by the international economic downturn. "It makes us appreciate that there are downswings as well as upswings," he told The Irish Times.
He rejected charges that he should not become involved in the campaign, saying: "I am an Irish citizen. I made it perfectly clear before and after my election that I intended to engage my right."
The joint declaration on defence agreed at the Seville EU declaration "clarified and neutralised" the issue in the upcoming campaign. "The EU Rapid Reaction Force will not be a standing army," Mr Cox said.
"The concept of an aggressively militarised European Union is at odds with all the available facts and, more perversely, totally out of line with policy experience."
