Local issues dominated the European campaign launches of two unionist candidates in the North yesterday as Ulster Unionist Mr Jim Nicholson and Mr Robert McCartney, who opposes the Belfast Agreement, both addressed the current difficulties in the peace process.
"No guns handed in - no hand in government," said Mr Nicholson, outlining the UUP position of refusing to form an administration with Sinn Fein without prior IRA decommissioning. "There can be no weakening of achieving the principle of exclusively peaceful means," he added.
"I am always very conscious that all politics are local and I'm also very conscious that European issues are the most difficult to get across," he said. An MEP for 10 years, Mr Nicholson said his candidature offered "strong, full-time" representation in Brussels.
He would work "in partnership" with the new Assembly, he added.
In reference to speculation that the late entry of Mr McCartney into the race might split the unionist vote, he said he believed unionist voters had "got the message" that that would favour Sinn Fein.
The party leader and the North's First Minister, Mr David Trimble, attended the launch at UUP headquarters, and said that he was convinced Mr Nicholson was "the best MEP that Northern Ireland has" and represented the face of "positive unionism".
Mr Trimble spoke out against those he claimed had entered the contest on an "ego trip" and who planned to "abuse" the election to rerun last year's referendum on the Belfast Agreement.
Commenting on his meeting with the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, scheduled for later in the day, the UUP leader said he would be asking Mr Blair to focus on the "intransigence" shown by republican paramilitaries.
Mr Nicholson presented a 10-point manifesto addressing issues such as agriculture, urban regeneration, the environment, the single currency and EU structural funds.
"Agriculture is very important to Northern Ireland and it has been ravaged by the BSE and pigs crisis in recent years.
"Northern Ireland is made up of family-based farms and we've got to protect that because if we destroy that we destroy rural society," he added.
In Europe he would oppose moves towards political union and the single currency. However, Mr Nicholson noted the current difficulties being experienced by haulage companies and petrol retailers in the North due to the strength of the pound sterling. He urged the Chancellor, Mr Gordon Brown, to put right the disparities experienced by businesses along the Border.
The UK Unionist leader, Mr Robert McCartney, was accompanied by his wife, Maureen, at the launch of his campaign at Parliament Buildings. He said the fact that his identity and principles needed "little introduction" strengthened his campaign.
In contrast, he said, if Mr Nicholson walked down a street in central Belfast only one in 100 people would recognise him. "I never got the impression that Jim Nicholson was a very busy man."
Mr McCartney said his political judgement in opposing the Belfast Agreement had been "confirmed" by events since its signing, including the fact that the paramilitaries had not decommissioned.
He said the poll would offer the electorate the chance to reflect on what had happened over the last year and give a verdict on it. "The referendum bubble has burst. Mr Blair's promises lie dishonoured, murderers run free and the RUC is being demoralised."
Mr McCartney also claimed that senior Ulster Unionists would be supporting him. "I would say that the majority of the Ulster Unionist parliamentary party will be personally voting for me."