There’s a reason that some of the country’s largest employers and trade unions, our most successful business figures, and leading economists have rowed in behind a Yes vote on Lisbon. EU membership has been a singular factor in creating jobs and growth in Ireland over the last 36 years.
Many on the No side have claimed that economic arguments for a Yes vote are fear-based nonsense; given this, the best way to start is by pointing to some economic successes.
Ireland has been, and remains, one of the most successful countries in the world at attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from other countries. Our FDI/GDP ratio has consistently been one of the highest in the EU 27 (*1), and it’s a simple fact that most of the companies that have come here have come to export conveniently to Europe (*2). How do we know this? Because Ireland exports more to Europe - nearly two-thirds of our total exports (*3) - than we do to anywhere else.
Exports are what will get the economy out of recession. Over the last year, construction, industrial output, tax receipts, and GDP, all went through the floor (*4). Exports fell by a mere 1%: not bad in the midst of a global recession.
But what has this got to do with Lisbon? Well, when you read all those seemingly vague posters around the country saying ‘Ireland needs to be at the heart of Europe’ and so on, this is probably what they mean. A No vote will damage our international reputation, worrying companies who have come here specifically because of our European identity. This sabotages the very thing that will provide for sustainable growth in Ireland in years to come.
But this seems like more of a ‘don’t vote no’ argument, than a ‘vote Yes’ argument. What’s actually in the Lisbon Treaty that will benefit Ireland economically? Well, a lot of things.
Firstly, Lisbon contains explicit protection for workers’ rights (*5). It commits the member states to working toward the goal of full employment for the first time (Article 3 TEU),. The Lisbon Treaty’s provisions on investment in green industry, space policy and technology (Articles 194 and 189 TFEU) will play to Ireland’s strengths, as we are well-suited as an economy to take advantage of these opportunities to create the kind of sustainable, high-wage jobs the country needs.
But what about all those arguments that the minimum wage will plummet if we vote yes? Rubbish. No European treaty allows the EU to set minimum wages (*6), and Lisbon specifically says that powers not explicitly given to the EU by the member states stay with the member states (*7). In fact, real wages (i.e. wages adjusted for inflation) have grown in every EU country (*8) over the last 10 years. Workers’ protections in countries like France and Germany are far more extensive than what they are in Ireland (*9). The group who put up the €1.84 posters admitted that they simply took the average minimum wages of the 12 recently-joined countries (*10), conveniently leaving out the track record of wage growth (an average of 2.6% per year over the last ten years (*11)) across the EU, or the fact that our minimum wage is specifically protected as an area that only our Government can control.
Second, voting YES gives us a stronger voice in world trade policy. This is specifically important given the ongoing round of World Trade Organisation talks. Allied with farmers in France, Spain, Denmark and elsewhere, Ireland has had far, far more clout and ability to protect our farmers than we would have had on our own. Ireland is not alone in Europe - our values and concerns are shared by many other states. Lisbon, through its Common Commercial Policy (*12), strengthens this cooperation even further, and will help secure the nations’ farms, as well as the livelihoods of rural communities.
A Yes vote will also formalise the previously informal arrangement of Eurozone members to coordinate international financial policy in Eurozone countries, which will be crucial to navigating our way out of the global recession. It also gives this group a specific mandate regarding ‘issues arising in international financial institutions.’ (*13) This guarantees us a stronger voice in institutions like the IMF, something we in this country are in sore need of if we are to secure ourselves from international banking crises in years to come.
Voting Yes will also mean that, for the first time, the EU will be legally obliged to have a multi-year budgetary framework (Article 312 TFEU), meaning that the EU will legally have to plan its budget years in advance. This helps us to avoid spending like lunatics during a boom, then raising taxes during a recession.
More generally, our vote on Lisbon has to do with how we see our future in an economically globalised world. A Yes vote is about projecting renewed confidence, and a willingness to get back on our feet after a series of hard economic knocks.
Since the 1950s, Ireland has fought hard for economic independence, and harder still for prosperity. Everything that is best and strongest about our economy has come from our sustained embrace of global commerce, trade and competition. This - more than anything else - has been the raison d’etre of the EU; and now - more than any time previously - is not the time to turn our backs on it.
A Yes vote will provide a clear signal that Ireland remains open for business; as well as helping us, in many concrete and practical ways, to get our economy back on track.
If you want to get Ireland back to work, Vote YES on October 2nd.
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Footnotes
(*1) EIU Country Data (Ireland’s stock of FDI/GDP ratio has been in the top 5 in the EU27 over the last 10 years. It is second from top on average over the last 10 years among the EU27 (leaving out financial clearing-house Luxembourg).
(*2) Economist Intelligence Unit, Ireland Country Profile, 2008. pg 29 & pg 32.
(*3) Economist Intelligence Unit, Ireland Country Report, September 2009, pg. 17.
(*4) Central Statistics Office, Quarterly National Accounts, 30 June 2009
(*5) http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0901/1224253586804.html
http://www.generationyes.ie/2009/09/01/an-honest-debate-on-the-real-treaty-provisions/
http://www.impact.ie/iopen24/newsdesk_info.php?newsdesk_id=265
(*6)EU Commission Vice-President Margot Wallstrom. http://www.herald.ie/national-news/dont-vote-no-to-lisbon-just-to-make-a-protest-at-your-own-government-1885079.html.
(*7) Article 4.1 TEU.
(*8) EIU Country Data.
(*9) Huber, Evelyn, Ragin, Charles and Stephens, John D. 1993. Social Democracy, Christian Democracy, Constitutional Structure, and the Welfare State. American Journal of Sociology 99: 3, 711-749
(*10) http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0901/1224253588969.html
(*11) EIU Country Data.
(*12) Article 207 (ex Article 133 TEC).
(*13) Article 138.1-2 (ex Article 111(4), TEC)
