Mick Wallace: Warns EU centralisation undermines national sovereignty
Mick Wallace criticised efforts to defend the European Union by limiting national vetoes, arguing such moves strip power from citizens and enshrine neoliberalism. He cited Ireland's 'no' votes on the Lisbon and Nice treaties and warned that centralisation risks turning the EU into an imperial power.
Power and popular sovereignty
Wallace said the Lisbon and Nice treaties took power from the people and gave it to EU institutions. He recalled that Ireland voted against both treaties, that the initial 'no' results were followed by a second vote, and framed those treaties as transferring authority away from citizens.
Concerns about veto abuse
He questioned debates over the abuse of national vetoes, asking who would determine which states are 'good actors' or 'bad actors' if vetoes were curtailed. Wallace portrayed such decisions as problematic because they shift judgement about member states away from those states and their people.
Defending the EU versus creating an empire
Wallace argued the European Union is a group of countries, not a country, and criticised efforts to make it a single, dominant union. He insisted that when states joined the EU they expected to retain a say and their sovereignty rather than be "chaparraled" into domination.
Appeal to restore power
He called for power to be returned to the people rather than concentrated in institutions and warned against transforming the EU into an imperial power. Wallace closed by urging an end to centralising moves that, in his view, undermine the Union's original nature.
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We're talking about defending the European Union against the abuse of national vetoes. If he wants to defend the European Union, how about giving some power back to the people? Because with the Lisbon and Nice treaties, which we in Ireland voted against on both occasions, but we got the wrong answer and we had to vote a second time. But in those treaties power was taken from the people and given to the institution and neoliberalism was enshrined in the European Union. People talk about good actors and bad actors and the abuse of the veto. Who's going to decide who's a good actor? Who's going to decide who's the bad actor? What's going on here? When we signed up to the European Union, when we joined it, we understood that we weren't going to be chaparraled into being completely dominated by the others. We were going to have a say. We were going to retain our sovereignty. It's one of the reasons we joined. And listen, these are undermining the European Union by trying to make one big union. The European Union is not a country. It's a group of countries. And stop trying to make an imperial power out of it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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