Tánaiste Urges ISME Membership to Vote Yes for Nice

Mary Harney, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment in a letter to the membership of ISME has urged them to vote Yes in the forthcoming referendum on the Nice Treaty.

The Tánaiste urged those running small and medium-sized businesses to embrace the opportunities for greater trade exports and to vote Yes.

It is the Tánaiste’s view that a lot of the political opponents of the Nice Treaty have policies that are fundamentally hostile to all business, small, medium and large.

Full Text of Tánaiste’s letter follows.

29 May 2001

Dear Members of ISME

The Nice Treaty is important for Ireland and for the European Union. It opens the way for the European Union take in up to 12 new member states. This means a bigger market for us in Ireland, of over 500 million people, giving up the chance to secure further exports, investments and high quality jobs.

I urge people running small and medium-sized businesses to embrace these opportunities for greater trade and exports and to vote Yes to the Nice Treaty.

Businesses in Ireland, large and small, need the right policies from government at all levels to create an environment in which they can prosper and in which jobs are sustained.

I have always believed that the policies pursued at EU level are as important as the debates about structures and decision-making at the European Union.

For those who have fears about the policies coming from the European Union, the best approach is to promote robustly a pro-enterprise, pro-market policy position. That is what we are doing, and the EU agenda includes strongly pro-enterprise policies.

For example, EU policies have prodded Ireland into much-needed reforms and market liberalisation - in telecommunications, transport and electricity, for example. This market liberalisation and competition lowers costs to businesses. It also provides private sector business opportunities in areas previously dominated by State monopolies. We still have some way to go in Ireland, but the European Union has helped us make progress so far.

As regards the Nice Treaty itself, the changes it makes are a fair balance. They were agreed in tough negotiations last year. Ireland’s interests were defended. We have kept the national veto on tax. We will have an equal right to an EU Commissioner. We are not entering a military alliance.

In my view, it is no coincidence that a lot of the political opponents of the Nice Treaty have policies that are fundamentally hostile to all business, small, medium and large.

So, for many people, I believe their vote on the Nice Treaty will boil down to, whose judgement do you trust? Do you go along with left wing and other parties whose policies are entirely hostile to your beliefs and interests? Or do you trust those political leaders who have experience of getting results for Ireland at EU negotiations, experience of the real world of politics, the realities of business and jobs? I sincerely hope the latter.

I strongly recommend a Yes vote on June 7th.

Thank you.

Mary Harney, T.D. Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment