Former EU Commissioner Byrne deliberately distorted truth on EU treaty
Press statement by the People’s Movement
11 April 2008
Claims that Ireland would not lose its seat on the EU Commission for 130 years have come back to haunt the former EU Commissioner David Byrne. The former Commissioner yesterday accused campaigners for a No vote of either not understanding the treaty or deliberately misleading the people. However, the chairperson of the People’s Movement, the former Green Party MEP Patricia McKenna, said today that Mr Byrne is the one responsible for misinforming the public and distorting the truth.
Ms McKenna quoted reassurances given by Mr Byrne during the Nice Treaty referendum, when he was an EU Commissioner, that “Ireland would not lose its Commission seat for 130 years.”
At a meeting of the National Forum on Europe in Dublin yesterday Mr Byrne argued that the changes to the membership of the EU Commission proposed in the Lisbon Treaty, which would result in Ireland being excluded from the Commission for one-third of the time, are necessary for it to function efficiently. These reassurances by Mr Byrne were given prominent media attention at the time, and although they were without foundation they were clearly an attempt to hoodwink the voters into voting Yes.
“Mr Byrne is now trying to do the same thing again when he justifies the fact that Ireland will lose its right to a permanent EU Commissioner if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified. During the Nice Treaty referendum Mr Byrne reassured voters that ‘proposals in the treaty for change in the Commission would not come into effect until a 27th country joined, when the 26-member Commission would be filled on a rotating basis every five years. Twenty-six by five is 130,’ he said.
“Obviously Mr Byrne believed that Ireland’s representation in the EU Commission was of the utmost importance, which was why he was trying to reassure people when voting on the Nice Treaty that Ireland would continue to have its representation on the Commission and that we would only be missing for 5 out of every 130 years. However, this has been proved to be untrue and a blatant and total distortion of the fact. In the light of this deliberate distortion I do not believe Mr Byrne has any credibility to ask people to believe him now when he says that Ireland should support this treaty.
“Mr Byrne has consistently accused the No side of spreading ‘misinformation,’ but his own record on this needs to be challenged. The Lisbon Treaty will ensure that Ireland is out of the Commission for five out of every fifteen years, which would mean that we will be denied access to the EU Commission, the body with a monopoly on initiating all EU laws, for over 43 years in every 130 years. That is quite a big difference from Mr Byrne’s past calculations and of fundamental importance to a small Member State like Ireland.” |