The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), a byword across Europe for right-wing extremism, xenophobia and bigotry, today launched its campaign to persuade Irish voters to vote No in our own referendum. Nigel Farrage, the leader of UKIP, was in Ireland to launch his party’s drive to send anti-EU booklets to 1.5 million Irish homes. While they claim the booklet is produced by the European Freedom and Democracy Group, UKIP’s own website says “UKIP will send a leaflet to every Irish home urging a no in the Lisbon Treaty”. That sounds to us like UKIP claiming responsibility.
Generation YES are outraged at this intervention by foreign interests into this crucial debate on Ireland’s vital national interests. We can be sure that UKIP are promoting their own repugnant agenda, with no concern for the welfare of the ordinary people of Ireland. They want to use the Irish referendum for their own ends – to get England out of the EU. They seek to dismantle the Belfast Agreement (*1), reintroduce the death penalty (*2) and abolish social security (*3), they prevent disabled people from standing for election on their ticket (*4), and they also deny climate change (*5) and the Holocaust (*6). We need to reject these offensive people, and to continue our own progressive, positive relationship with Europe that has served us so well.
One of the most repulsive aspects of UKIP’s stance on Lisbon is its racist immigration policy. Their literature states that Lisbon will mean the accession of Turkey to the EU, and insinuates that this will bring the mass immigration of 75 million people (just about the entire population of Turkey), who they argue will steal all CAP’s benefits for our farmers (they fail to mention that elsewhere they argue for the abolition of the CAP (*7)). In fact Turkey is not mentioned anywhere in the Lisbon Treaty.
Lisbon makes no changes to the mechanism for or criteria of accession for new members. This is a fact. Currently Turkey does not meet the accession criteria - so even if all the states were agreed on Turkish entry- they could not join the EU. Most importantly of all, many states do not support Turkish entry: and the decision has to be unanimous.
The two articles which UKIP quote as “giv[ing] the EU full control over immigration” are Articles 67 and 79 of the TFEU. The first of these provides for the “absence of internal border controls for persons” and the “fram[ing] of a common policy on asylum, immigration and external border control”. This first point deals with the free movement of people and resources across borders within Europe. This benefits us all – in bad times Irish workers have been able to seek good jobs abroad, while during the boom Ireland had a shortfall of workers which was filled by immigrants from other parts of the EU. Now that we are again in recession these workers are going home.
It is a sad irony that also in this Article 67 is a clause calling for “measures to prevent and combat crime, racism and xenophobia” – the last two of which constitute the ideological foundations of the UK Independence Party.
The second point they raise, Article 79, explicitly contains a clause stating:
“This Article shall not affect the right of Member States to determine volumes of admission of third-country nationals coming from third countries to their territory to seek work, whether employed or self-employed.”
This blatantly disproves their cynical assertion that the EU will now have full control over immigration.
The fact is that on immigration policy Lisbon introduces reform and bolsters the control of European borders. We are failing miserably to deal with immigration issues on our own. We are all familiar with news stories about detention centres where asylum seekers are sometimes confined for long periods suffering from chronic overcrowding and food shortages. This situation is in no one’s interest.
This is because immigration is an inherently cross-border issue. Lisbon aims to ensure a “global and integrated approach” to this area. It makes decision-making in this area more efficient (Article 16 TEU), and ensures greater democratic accountability by making the European Parliament an equal decision-making partner (Article 14). Article 79.1 commits the EU to “the efficient management of migration flows, fair treatment of third-country nationals… and enhanced measures to combat, illegal immigration and trafficking in human beings.”
The Treaty also makes sure we take into account the need to protect human rights as well as to secure our borders. Article 68 TFEU states that, “The Union shall constitute an area of freedom, security, and justice with respect for fundamental rights.” Article 78.1 TFEU will require compliance with the Geneva Convention on Refugees and Article 6 TEU will make the Charter on Fundamental Rights legally binding.
Lisbon joins up immigration policy with the related areas of development and foreign affairs to attack the root causes of illegal immigration, and make sure our overall approach is coherent and cost-effective. Article 27 TEU creates the position of the High Representative for Foreign Affairs, to help coordinate policy on immigration law, cross-border crime, development policy and foreign affairs. Article 21.2 TEU makes eradication of poverty a primary aim of the Union’s development policy, which is strongly supported by many of the world’s poverty NGO’s, including Trócaire and Concern.
The urgent need to form a coherent EU policy in this area is clear. Groups like UKIP, however, are opportunistically invading Ireland to push their own racist and xenophobic agenda, which is not in Ireland’s or Europe’s interests. The Lisbon Treaty will not affect our right to control our levels of immigration. It has no effect on the accession of new members. The Treaty is unequivocal on these points. It will help us to control our borders. Anyone who says otherwise is simply lying.
We have to face down the interfering extremists who are trying to subvert our democratic system from the outside.
Don’t listen to the self serving lies of UKIP who have no mandate here.
Listen to the facts. Vote Yes on October 2nd.
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Footnotes
(*1) Policy Statement, How We Are Governed, July 2008
(*2) Batten, Gerard, UKIP Press release, 4 August 2005
(*3) UKIP Manifesto for the 2004 European elections
(*4) The Guardian, 28 February 2007
(*5) Reed, Steve, Yorkshire Post, 5 August 2004
(*6) McConnachie, Alastair, The Scotsman, 27 March 2000
(*7) Titford, Jeffrey, UKIP Press Release, 21 May 2008
