Sir, - Breda O'Brien (March 3rd) has suggested that a No vote in the upcoming Nice referendum would help to create a more democratic EU. Presumably, she means an EU more willing to be influenced by its population. Yet she also raises an eyebrow at Germany winning more proportional representation at EU level, i.e. more votes because it represents more people.
The problem with her piece is that she, like many other "democratic" finger-waggers, doesn't actually define what she means by a more democratic Europe. At the moment, we are represented at every level of the EU, be it Commission, Council of Ministers, Court of Justice or Parliament, even though we have fewer than 1 per cent of the EU population. Under a more democratic structure - i.e. one where countries get a fair share according to population - we'd have no representation in most institutions.
Ireland has never been keen on making the EU more democratic, because it doesn't suit a country this size. If you even look at who we send out to the European Parliament, most are "lap-of-honour" types who, with the remarkable exception of Pat Cox, have failed to make any real impact there. Broadly speaking, this is not representative of a country lying awake until the early hours pondering the great issues of democracy and transparency.
The strangest new element to enter the debate is the coalition of anti-EU interests, and the contradictory nature of them. On one side are the left-wing nationalists who are not just against the EU, but against our society changing into a more Western, free-market model. On the other side, we have the Rupert Murdoch economic libertarian crowd, who are obsessed with the EU because it won't let our society change into a complete free market model. We really should introduce these people to each other.
Let's be honest here. The reason there's so much bellyaching is that for decades we had the Germans pulling poor Ireland up into the tree. Now, we're in the tree and are expected to lend a hand to the next guy, and that sticks in our mean-spirited craw. It can be dressed up as patriotism, national identity, whatever you like, but basically it's selfish hypocrisy. - Yours, etc.,
Jason O'Mahony, St James Wood, Kilmainham, Dublin 8. 01-4508488 (W)