Nice Treaty 3.0

Third shake of the stick for the EU and the false dichotomy surrounding the Triple lock debate.

The language that was used in the Dail debates around neutrality in the last while has brought a desperate reality home for me. We are the last generation of Irish people, in the south at least, who will know peace. In our lifetimes, the EU will assert its dominance over Ireland militarily citing security as its reasoning. This will happen by pen-stroke or spiked referendum, but it is coming. Our Neutrality in the past has kept us out of wars but came with it a cost. The price of neutrality is a target on your back that all global powers want to subvert. The current landlords of Ireland, the European Union and the British Empire, are gearing up for war against Russia and this phase of “re-armament”, brings with it a scramble for fealty. This desperate attempt by the EU to remove the Triple lock is nothing more than a third attempt to militarise Ireland. This is effectively Nice 3.0. Paddy! quick hand me your country for safe keeping it’s about to be attacked! We will return it to you when the coast is clear, We promise!

Now I am no fan of the triple lock. It hands the final decision making of our military command to the UN. It is an affront to our sovereignty in fact in that regard and yes, this is the line trotted out by the government however they do not care about our sovereignty. Let me make one thing clear, the Irish Government does not give a fiddlers about neutrality either. Their masters in the EU desperately want a common EU army but they made a huge mistake when asking the Irish people to vote a second time on the Nice Treaty. In a desperate attempt to defy our sovereign plebiscite in the first instance, they drafted up a Declaration and made it part of the second referendums conditions. This Declaration is called the Seville Declaration, and in ratifying the Nice Treaty we actually created one of the most incredible set of circumstances surrounding Irish Neutrality. We effectively made neutrality a constitutional principle. It is now a fundamental characteristic of our nation, as ratified by Treaty of Nice 2.0. You have likely not been shown this declaration in any of the media coverage or writings or heard its name being mentioned. The declaration text is as follows:

National Declaration by Ireland to the EU Council – Seville, 21 June 2002

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1. Ireland reaffirms its attachment to the aims and principles of Charter of the United Nations, which confers primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security upon the United Nations Security Council.

2. Ireland recalls its commitment to the common foreign and security policy of the European Union as set out in the Treaty on European Union, adopted at Maastricht, amended at Amsterdam and approved on each occasion by the Irish people through referendum.

3. Ireland confirms that its participation in the European Unions common foreign and security policy does not prejudice its traditional policy of military neutrality. The Treaty on European Union makes clear that the Union's security and defence policy shall not prejudice the specific character of the security and defence policy of certain Member States.

4. In line with its traditional policy of military neutrality, Ireland is not bound by any mutual defence commitment. Nor is Ireland party to any plans to develop a European army. Indeed, the Nice European Council recognised that the development of the Union's capacity to conduct humanitarian and crisis management tasks does not involve the establishment of a European Army.

5. The Treaty on European Union specifies that any decision by the Union to move to a common defence would have to be taken by unanimous decision of the Member States and adopted in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements. The Government of Ireland have made a firm commitment to the people of Ireland, solemnized in this Declaration, that a referendum will be held in Ireland on the adoption of any such decision and on any future Treaty which would involve Ireland departing from its traditional policy of military neutrality.

6. Ireland reiterates that the participation of contingents of the Irish Defence Forces in overseas operations, including those carried out under the European security and defence policy, requires (a) the authorisation of the operation by the Security Council or the General Assembly of the United Nations, (b) the agreement of the Irish Government and (c) the approval of Dáil Éireann, in accordance with Irish law.

7. The situation set out in this Declaration would be unaffected by the entry into force of the Treaty of Nice. In the event of Ireland's ratification of the Treaty of Nice, this Declaration will be associated with Ireland's instrument of ratification.

It is abundantly clear in the text that neutrality was identified as a fundamental aspect of Irelands continued membership of the EU. It is also abundantly clear that a referendum is required to alter this arrangement. Even though the Seville Declaration is referred to as “not legally binding” by commentators within the EU system, the conditions of the Declaration itself state otherwise. At the end of the declaration the line “In the event of Irelands ratification of The Treaty of Nice, this Declaration will be associated with Ireland’s instrument of ratification.” Is included. This means that only a referendum can undo the social contract of neutrality contained within the declaration. By the mechanism of ratification, neutrality is now a constitutional matter. Neutrality does not need to be explicitly stated in the text of our constitution to exist as a constitutional principle. It is there by amendment.

In the famous Supreme Court case, AG vs Ryan, it was ruled that latent rights were imbued in the gist of the general text of the constitution that were not explicitly stated. These became unenumerated rights. It is therefore by this same principle that any treaty, ratified by the process outlined in Article 46, becomes a constitutional amendment with all of its clauses constitutionalised. In this case, the Nice Treaty is the Twenty Sixth amendment. It goes without saying that the Seville Declaration, with or without the specific provision of the triple lock found within section 6, is legally binding as it is now part of our constitution. Hence all of the drama. The text of the Twenty Sixth amendment states the following

7° The State may ratify the Treaty of Nice amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related Acts signed at Nice on the 26th day of February, 2001.

8° The State may exercise the options or discretions provided by or under Articles 1.6, 1.9, 1.11, 1.12, 1.13 and 2.1 of the Treaty referred to in subsection 7° of this section but any such exercise shall be subject to the prior approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas.

9° The State shall not adopt a decision taken by the European Council to establish a common defence pursuant to Article 1.2 of the Treaty referred to in subsection 7° of this section where that common defence would include the State.

As you can see, this shit is locked in tight. Again, none of this has been explained to you or anyone else. You are being given two options and told to pick one. A false dichotomy.

1. The EU controlled Government want to repeal the entire declaration, removing Neutrality entirely

2. The UN controlled opposition want to keep the full amendment as is, protecting its section 6 triple lock/control of our military.

There is nothing stopping us from removing only section 6 of the Seville Declaration and keeping the rest, meaning we would restore total military control to ourselves while still maintaining the Neutrality clause. In other words, the Triple lock is being sold to you as fundamental to the existence of neutrality in Irish constitutional law. This is a lie. It is also a lie when the Europhiles cite sovereignty as their reason to take the triple lock away as when they say triple lock they really mean the entire Seville Declaration. When you are watching or listening to them speak about this, remember this:

The removal of the Triple Lock/Neutrality is just Nice 1.0 through the back door.

Any referendum put forward by this Governemnt on this issue will include the most subservient pro-federalist stance possible meaning they will attempt to remove the entire Seville Declaration, dressing it up as an act of Irish political will when in effect it is a seance for the original Nice Treaty as rejected by the Irish people in 2001. The Rugby fans of Fine Gael and the farmers of Fianna Fáil will stand to attention as their sports hero’s and other celebrities will be wheeled out. Uncle Paddy needs you! Rory and Fiachra will vote our children into war without a care in the world. They will cast their votes and book flights to Australia while the working class struggle to get organised.

It is almost set in stone that a referendum will take place. It has to. Any attempt to do this by legislation only will likely be met with vicious street level riots and constitutional challenges as far too many groups and movements are pro sovereignty to let this go. We are standing in the way of the next generations decimation, whether it be by migration, poverty or war and therefore we have to resist this but we have to understand this issue completely. This is not about the Triple Lock, this is about saying no to a third Nice Treaty referendum by stealth.