GORMLEY STANCE:FORMER GREEN Party MEP Patricia McKenna yesterday questioned the consistency of party leader John Gormley's position on the Lisbon Treaty.
The Minister for the Environment said this week he would have voted Yes to the treaty if he were still in opposition, pointing to references to climate change and to a citizens' initiative in the document.
Ms McKenna, a Green Party member, said: "If I were John I would keep a low profile on this."
She said Mr Gormley had voted against the proposed Constitutional Treaty when he was a member of the Convention for the Future of Europe, and had actually supported an alternative constitutional treaty.
However, the Greens' spokesman in Government responded by saying that Mr Gormley's position on the EU had been entirely consistent.
Ms McKenna was attending a press conference organised by the Campaign Against the EU Constitution in her capacity as spokeswoman for the People's Movement. She said there was little difference between the constitution and the Lisbon Treaty.
"John Gormley said that he got this clause into the treaty that refers to 'in particular combating climate change'. That does not give the EU any new powers internally. It will still have to be balanced so as not to distort competition and the internal market.
"It restates what the EU has been doing anyway at the international level, which has been the promotion of the climate change question. There's a lot to be said about that especially when compared to the US."
The Greens' Government spokesman said Mr Gormley had backed the alternative constitutional treaty with the intention of backing an EU-wide referendum.
