Labour leader Eamon Gilmore today forecast that both sides of the Border would increasingly find common voice on issues in Europe as he called for a Yes vote in the Lisbon referendum.
Speaking in Stormont at an SDLP-Labour Party press conference in support of the Treaty, Mr Gilmore said it was important to highlight the all-Ireland nature of the Lisbon campaign.
“The Lisbon Treaty is a Citizen's treaty. It will make the European Union more democratic and more effective. It will give Europe's citizens a stronger voice in European Affairs. That is good for all of us, North and South,” he said.
“Both of our parties share a common commitment to the idea of a Citizen's Europe. The Charter of Fundamental Rights is a major advance on the road to the kind of Europe that we espouse.”
Mr Gilmore said that as the institutions of the Belfast Agreement are bedded down in the North, the focus will increasingly turn to developing an all-Island economy. “As this happens, I believe that the two parts of Ireland will increasingly speak with a common voice in Europe on a range of issues.”
“Membership of the European Union is an essential part of the strategy for an all-island economy . . . the stronger our voice, the better for all of us,” he said.
Joe Costello, Labour spokesman on European affairs, criticised Sinn Féin”s opposition to the treaty and said a defeat would see the Charter of Fundamental rights lost in addition to “a whole series of other benefits” to people in the Republic and the North.
“No Sinn Féin leader in Northern Ireland has pointed out the new partition of the island in relation to worker's rights that will take place if the Lisbon Reform Treaty is passed on June 12th, he said. “Workers in the Republic will have the protection of the legally binding Charter of Fundamental Rights while workers in Northern Ireland will not.”
Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland is “remarkably silent” on the Lisbon Reform Treaty except when their leaders travel to the Republic, Mr Costello added.
He condemned what he said was that party”s hypocrisy in campaigning against the treaty “so that they can give a high profile to their candidate for the European elections next year and . . . revive their flagging political fortune after their disappointing Dail elections last year”.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan recalled that before May last year, the only place where Ian Paisley had shared power was in the European Parliament “where he worked with John Hume and the Ulster Unionists because it was necessary”.
He also dismissed the stance taken by Sinn Féin as being “motivated by self-interest and ultimately hollow”, adding: “The Lisbon Reform Treaty contains all the rights and standards that Sinn Féin is forever telling us they support.”
