Madam, - Robert Ballagh, speaking at the Groundhog Day-like launch of the anti-EU Constitution campaign, claims that the proposed EU Constitutional Treaty reduces democracy (The Irish Times, April 1st).
This is the most preposterous of the all the usual rehashed arguments.
Dealing with the perceived democratic deficit in the European Union was one of the tasks faced by the convention which drafted the early version of the treaty. There are serious enhancements of the democratic life of the Union in the proposed treaty, so much so that an entire section is dedicated to it (Title VI of part 1).
The directly elected European Parliament is now given practically equal power with the indirectly elected council of Ministers. MEPs have real power to shape legislation, unlike most of our TDs, who are effectively lobby fodder in a parliament completely dominated by Government legislation and patronage. In many cases their amendments and changes become law; this is seldom the case for the bulk of our national TDs.
The European Parliament is to gain significant new oversight powers in key areas such as agriculture and trade.
The Council of Ministers will be required to be open to the public when it is acting in a legislative capacity, a long-time bugbear of campaigners for more EU democracy. National parliaments are given a seriously enhanced role with proper prior notice of legislation and a role in issuing "yellow cards" on certain initiatives. There is provision for direct citizens' initiatives to the European Commission - a concept unheard of in Irish democracy.
When all this is added to existing provisions such as the European Ombudsman and the work of the petitions committee of the parliament, it is easy to see that in many ways the EU is arguably more democratic than our own country.
It is certainly streets ahead of, say, the UN, the WTO or other multinational bodies of which we are members. - Yours, etc.,
MICHAEL McLOUGHLIN, Riverwood Heath, Castleknock, Dublin 15.