PEOPLE’S NEWS pm News Digest of the People’s Movement www.people.ie | [email protected] No. 153 18 September 2016

Betrayal! with article 30.8.4 of CETA). In this scenario, • CETA would apply in law in a provisional manner only after the Council of Ministers and the EU Parliament both vote to approve it, and so the Council and Commission could ignore the votes of member-states’ national parlia- ments. So this letter has obviously been timed to coincide with the Council meeting in Bratislava; but the Council is not required to provisionally apply CETA, though it has the option to do so in cases of urgency. Twelve EU member-states’ ministers for foreign There is, however, no urgency in provision- affairs and trade, including Mary Mitchell ally applying CETA. There are no looming O’Connor, have sent a letter to the EU environmental or social disasters if CETA would commissioner for trade, Cecilia Malmström, to not be provisionally applied; and commercial express support for the signing and provisional relations between the EU and Canada are application of the Comprehensive Economic already very strong. On the contrary, and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU provisional application would actually have and Canada and supporting the continuation of negative consequences for social and environ- TTIP negotiations, according to information mental protection in Europe. from the Baltic foreign ministries. There is, moreover, considerable legal Given that CETA has been agreed, the issue uncertainty over the powers of the EU to of provisional application is an urgent one. provisionally apply the agreement in the first Nobody knows exactly what kind of place. It may not have the power to provision- “proposal” for “provisional application” the ally apply the entire agreement, and it may also Commission has in mind to offer the Council to affect the powers of the member-states in vote on, but it’s going to be one of these: areas of shared competence. • CETA would apply in law in a provisional Lastly, there are insufficient guarantees that manner only after the Council of Minsters votes the EU Parliament will be properly involved. to approve it, and before the EU Parliament There is therefore inadequate democratic votes—which means that even if the Parlia- scrutiny by elected representatives in this far- ment votes against it CETA is in law anyway, reaching decision to provisionally apply this again until such time as the Council of Minsters agreement. votes to remove it from provisional application, Bearing in mind the lack of transparency in after which time it would remain as binding the negotiating process, and the lack of direct international law for three years (in accordance accountability of the Council members to citizens in the EU, provisional application with- level of ambition of the agreement. However, out a proper public debate will further reveal outstanding issues remain and we should focus our the increasing lack of legitimacy of the EU. attention on finding solutions. Cecilia Malmström We are confident that you will be able [to] 14 September 2016 achieve the goals and secure our objectives in line Ref. Ares(2016)5297415 - 14/09/2016 with the Council negotiating mandate of 2013. Thus Commissioner for Trade we reiterate our commitment and support given to European Commission the Commission in the negotiations. We look BE-1049 Brussels forward to the continuation of the TTIP negotiations Belgium with the US and to working closely with the Commission in the coming months. Dear Ms Malmström, Yours sincerely, Today more than ever, there is a need for a strong and positive voice in the discussions on trade Mr Jan MLÁDEK issues. The EU’s delivery on growth, prosperity and Minister for Industry and Trade jobs for all depends not only on structural reforms Mr Kristian JENSEN and strong public finances, but also to a large Minister for Foreign Affairs extent on an open, progressive and balanced trade Ms Liisa OVIIR policy. Europe needs to demonstrate clear leader- Minister of Entrepreneurship ship in negotiating free trade agreements if we are Mr Kai MYKKÄNEN to generate the growth we need to meet future Minister for Foreign Trade and Development challenges. Ms Mary MITCHELL O’CONNOR Minister of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation We therefore strongly believe that more trade is Mr Edgars RINKĒVIČS necessary if we are to continue creating new jobs in Minister of Foreign Affairs the EU. We must push for a trade policy that also Mr Linas LINKEVIČIUS stands up for workers’ rights, the environment, Minister of Foreign Affairs people’s health and our democratic space. In Ms Margarida Marques addition, trade agreements should naturally protect Secretary of State for European Affairs our own scope for decision-making. Mr Jaime GARCÍA-LEGAZ PONCE We are pleased that negotiations on the EU- Secretary of State for Trade Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Ms Ann LINDE Agreement (CETA) have been completed. CETA is a Minister for EU Affairs and Trade broad and deep agreement based on the reality of Lord Mark PRICE today’s trade patterns, taking on board the content Minister of State for Trade and Investment of a modern trade agreement. We are now looking forward to the signing of CETA on 27 October and provisional application of the agreement. EU-US trade and investment represents the world’s largest bilateral economic relationship, and the EU and the US are each other’s most important economic partners.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partner- ship (TTIP) is an opportunity to shape the rules of Apple walks away with a tax rate of trade in the 21st Century. We should fully seize it 0.005 per cent together with our American partners. The Commission has been working hard to take these Underneath the sleek Apple design there’s negotiations forward, inform stakeholders and nothing but sleaze. And behind the blarney consult with Member States. The TTIP negotiations there’s sinister bullshit. No wonder they have made progress, given the large scope and high understand each other, and have been working

2 harmoniously together since 1991. And the Irish taxpayer is not the only one Despite the ultra-modern technology and exploited. The bulk of these hyper-profits are the trendy little economy, Apple, supported by built on the back of super-exploited young successive Irish governments, has been acting Chinese women, who work for long hours in as a pirate, attempting to pillage as much as it conditions of military discipline that often lead can from the global community. to suicide, as in the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, which produces Apple iPads. They All was revealed when the EU commissioner are also exposed to toxic solvents, such as n- for competition, Margrethe Vestager, nailed the hexane and benzene, which are causing severe corporation and the country to the wall of illnesses. Wages average from $1 to $2 an hour shame. After investigating Apple’s tax arrange- for Foxconn workers, including overtime ments in Ireland she concluded that Ireland is breaking EU rules by giving state aid to Apple— Astoundingly, Apple made twice as much one of the richest corporations in the world, profit in China in 2015 ($13.4 billion) as it paid its 1.6 million Chinese workers ($6.2 billion). with a value not far off a trillion dollars. The annual basic wage of fifty thousand The state aid in question is a tax arrange- Pegatron workers was about $193 million in ment that allows Apple to avoid paying 2015; this compares with the $378 million pay international tax. The trick is the use of a shell packet of Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook. Labour costs company that is based in Ireland but is officially in China account for only $10 of the retail price “stateless.” By directing all the money it makes of an iPhone, sold for about $400. outside the United States into its “Irish” shell company, Apple—thanks to the Irish govern- So where would the Apple jobs go to? ment—walks away with a tax rate of 0.005 per KPMG’s corporate tax table provides a view of cent. Apart from the token amount it pays to corporate tax rates around the world. And what the Irish government at the nominal rate of can the EU do about the situation? Don’t forget 12½ per cent (but an effective rate of about 2 that the “common consolidated corporate tax per cent), Apple walks away with everything it base” hasn’t gone away; nor has “own can get its hands on. resources” in the Lisbon Treaty. But since this special tax package is offered For now, the EU is attacking the shell “only” to Apple, the EU judged it to be a breach company and demanding that it pay the “Irish” of its competition rules. taxes it has been avoiding all these years. It calculates an unpaid tax bill of €13 billion, plus Ireland, in other words, has been subsid- interest, which is a world record penalty. ising Apple’s international profits, which in October 2015 were recorded as $53.4 billion And Ireland’s response? It claims to be for that year. By offering a phantom address innocent and doesn’t want any money from and turning the other way, Ireland is facilitating Apple! a worldwide tax dodge in return for six That’s right: the Irish state, which is up to thousand jobs—jobs that are unlikely to its neck in debt, owing up to €180 billion disappear in any event. If Apple paid all its tax (depending on how you calculate it), refuses— at our 12½ per cent rate it would still be getting in the face of its EU masters—to tax the richest a bargain, as this is set at just half the global corporation on the planet. average rate! Apple is sitting on a mountain of cash worth As it is, with allowances, Apple would pay a $231 billion. The asymmetry is perfect—and is de facto rate of about 2½ per cent—as do many a true reflection of globalisation. For the sake other corporations in Ireland. of the corporation, the state is impoverished. And for the sake of the corporation, the state

3 impoverishes other states and, in the process, It’s no surprise that the EU is coming after its own people. Apple and Ireland, because the OECD has been You would think that Ireland would have openly targeting tax havens since 2014, part- learnt its lesson after it bailed out its banks. It is icularly through its BEPS project. obvious, therefore, that “dignity” is excluded When western governments are bailing out from the official Irish lexicon. And justice—at every bank in the western world, tax avoidance home and abroad? That’s a foreign language in becomes a real issue. The significance of the the corridors of Irish power, while the concept EU’s ruling against Ireland and Apple is that it of sovereignty is understood only in terms of has set a strong precedent. The EU intends to serving global corporations. hit Europe’s tax havens hard. Luxembourg and The irony is that Ireland—its people a Netherlands, beware! victim of the EU’s extreme financial capital- The United States is angry, because its ism—is making the EU look good. Neo-liberal corporations have been caught red-handed, Ireland is being called to order by the neo- and because its government is controlled by its liberal EU, and Ireland dares to protest, even corporations. The likes of Apple, Amazon, though it has been caught red-handed cheating Microsoft, Starbucks and McDonalds have the EU and the world. In the name of compet- lodged themselves into the dark corners of ition, the EU wants justice; and in the name of Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands and globalisation, Ireland rejects justice. It’s a neo- are walking away with staggering amounts of liberal farce, with the Irish people being the untaxed profits. The US government fears that real losers. it will now have to pay for the sins of its The issue is taxation. In the age of austerity corporations. But that will be the case only if it this is an explosive subject, and it looks as if the is spineless. The United States can fight its tax- EU understands this, while Ireland has its head dodging corporations if it wants to. However, buried in the sand. that would mean ultimately a break with Wall Street—which is hardly possible.

4 The fragmentation of the Atlanticist agenda A number of legal challenges to the result is for the benefit of us all, because that is a have been started in Britain and will be heard corporate agenda. If the neo-liberal fanatics, some time in October. Now Brexit is facing a the competition hardliners, in the EU are the legal challenge in the Northern Ireland courts, source of this present concern for justice, who initiated by the leaders of the Alliance Party, cares? We should welcome justice whenever it Green Party and SDLP and Sinn Féin’s former comes along. And isn’t history, after all, Stormont minister of education. dialectical? Contradictions in the system will All these parties campaigned on the Remain transform it—and who knows, this particular side in the referendum. Sinn Féin had discord may even block TTIP! previously campaigned against the EEC Accession Treaty (1972), the Single European “Somehow this result needs to be Act (1987), the Maastricht Treaty (1992), the overturned” Amsterdam Treaty (1998), the Nice Treaty The Brexit referendum was a major defeat for (2001 and 2002 referendums), the Lisbon previous British government policy, supported, Treaty (2008 and 2009 referendums) and the as it was, by the Brussels institutions, all Fiscal Treaty (2012) but now has a split twenty-eight EU governments, the US personality on the EU: “critically engaged” with government, the City of London, Messrs it in the Republic but in an amorous liaison with Goldman Sachs, and related financial interests it in Northern Ireland! and international corporate capital generally— Also joined in the threatened legal action all of whom favoured “Remain.” are present and former officials of a number of Now key “Remain” people in Britain, Ireland NGOs, acting either in a personal capacity or on and the rest of the EU are determined not to behalf of their organisations. accept the result of the referendum, even though that was the democratic choice of the citizens of the United Kingdom, who were asked to vote on the course they wished the UK state as a whole to follow. Peter Sutherland, the Republic’s former top law officer, former EU commissioner, and erst- while head of Goldman Sachs, went on Twitter immediately after the vote to say, “Somehow this result needs to be overturned” (Irish Times, There is no information about who is paying 27 June, p. 16). On 22 January the Financial for the action. A number of the NGOs have Times had reported that Goldman Sachs close connections with, and receive funds from, donated £500,000 to the anti-Brexit campaign American sources, including some who are in Britain. close to the Democratic Party establishment. The burden of the legal challenge seems to be “a series of legal obligations” that the applicants claim must be satisfied before the now famous article 50—the withdrawal article—can be triggered; most particularly, they argue that it must be agreed by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The Belfast Agreement makes constitutional

5 change towards a united Ireland dependant on without relinquishing its own authority to make the principle of “consent”; and some comment- law on any matter it chooses—including ators, such as Fintan O’Toole, have suggested devolved matters. It has not given away any of that a British departure from the EU requires its powers to devolved legislatures, such as the Northern Ireland’s “consent.” Northern Ireland Assembly. Those who believe that Stormont can veto Brexit would therefore be well advised to remember the old adage, “The law is congealed politics.” And politics and law are clear that Stormont can only act within its competence.

But Northern Ireland is not a sovereign political entity. According to political reality, and law, devolution and Belfast Agreement notwithstanding, only the British Parliament is sovereign. Article 50 can be triggered by the Of course if the United Kingdom Parliament, British government, exercising its so-called having established devolution, regularly inter- prerogative powers to conduct foreign policy, fered in devolved matters, that would under- and it is logically impossible for there to be any mine the whole ideological façade surrounding requirement for Stormont to consent to Brexit devolution and reveal who ultimately calls the legislation enacted by the British Parliament, shots. unless that parliament is in the process of As a consequence, the legal power of the enacting such legislation. London Parliament to interfere is usually This means that when article 50 is invoked exercised by reference to “constitutional this could happen without any legislation being conventions”—established and accepted enacted by the Parliament. What this boils political practices concerning how Parliament down to is that Brexit could become will and will not use its power. irrevocable without the Parliament ever enacting any legislation to which Stormont could object. Of course at some point the Parliament will have to enact legislation relating to Brexit—but if, by then, the article 50 clock has begun to run, no amount of withholding of consent by Stormont will make the United Kingdom’s departure from the EU any less inevitable as a matter of international law. That ship will have Nor can Stormont “block” UK legislation on sailed. Brexit, or on anything else. Certainly it can As a matter of strict law, the British withhold consent—but hardly on a cross- Parliament has merely authorised the devolved community basis, given the fact that three- legislatures in Scotland, Wales and Northern quarters of Northern unionists voting in the Ireland to make laws on certain matters,

6 referendum voted to leave the EU. require that article 50 should only be triggered And, as explained above, the United “after properly taking into account all relevant Kingdom Parliament is sovereign and can do as alternatives to exiting the EU and not giving it wishes; so the absence of consent from undue weight to the results only of this Stormont would not legally prevent London referendum.” from enacting Brexit legislation. This is so So they stand squarely in the camp of Peter because the “requirement” for consent is not a Sutherland and those forces that demand that legal requirement at all: it is, ultimately, no “somehow this result must be overturned.” more than a political expectation that the United Kingdom Parliament will respect the Frustration over German dominance constitutional position of the Stormont An EU-wide think tank is warning that assembly. “frustration over German dominance” is It might be thought to be “unconstit- growing among EU member-states. utional,” in the sense of disregarding the Over the past ten years Germany has constitutional principle—namely, respect for become the EU’s undisputed strongest power, devolved autonomy—that underpins the according to a recent analysis by the European convention. But because the requirement for Council on Foreign Relations. The “EU partners” the Assembly’s consent is, at the end of the must now “decide how to handle Germany’s day, no more than a convention, the absence of power.” Some have expressed resentment; such consent cannot be a legal obstacle to others have “centred their EU strategies around Brexit. Germany” and look for “ways to influence What is the actual reality about “consent” Berlin’s policy machinery.” to Brexit in Northern Ireland? None of this leaves any doubt that Of the 1,861 million people living in “Germany’s political class” continues to see the Northern Ireland, there were 1,261 million on EU as “the best available framework for the the electoral register for the referendum. The articulation of its national interest.” Whereas referendum turn-out was 62.7 per cent in the the ECFR’s analysis concentrates its attention North, compared with 72.2 per cent in the primarily on the political establishment of the United Kingdom as a whole. This was a total of other EU countries, the supplementary 789,879, of whom 55.8 per cent voted question to be raised on how to deal with “remain” (440,437), 44.2 per cent (349,442) German dominance is becoming increasingly voted “leave,“ and 471,109 did not vote. If one urgent. The German government is impelling takes non-voters into account, it is clearly the militarisation of foreign policy as well as invalid to claim that a majority of people in the domestic surveillance and repression, measures North supported “remain” in the Brexit serving a preparation for war—a concern for referendum. everyone. And more broadly as regards long-term The ECFR, a think tank on questions of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland attitudes foreign policy that has offices in seven EU to the EU, in the crucial parliamentary votes on capitals, has found that over the last decade joining what was then the EEC in 1972 a Germany has completely taken on “its natural majority of Scottish, Welsh and Northern leadership role in the EU’s economic and Ireland members voted against joining, so that monetary affairs.” This brings “the German it was the votes of English MPs that took the question back to the centre of the European United Kingdom into the EEC. project.” The Northern “Remain” champions would More recently, Germany has also “taken a

7 greater role in foreign and security policy.” It interest.” has “played a pivotal role” in responding to German experts concur with this assess- Europe’s three “major foreign policy challenges ment. “By itself” Germany is “too small to of 2015”: the conflict in Ukraine, the latest effect global policy changes,” according to a eruption of the euro crisis in Greece, and the summary made two years ago during a broadly refugee crisis. Germany’s “leadership model” based debate initiated by the Foreign Ministry. has at times appeared “unilateral,” according to “Only when the EU’s member states pull this analysis. together in questions of integration and foreign policy will Europe have the political clout that Germany needs to achieve its interests.” Therefore Germany is “well advised to continue to politically invest in Europe.” This was recently confirmed by Norbert Röttgen of the Christian Democratic Union. “Our interest is to ensure that Europe works.” Simultaneously, the ECFR notes that, in spite of its focus on the EU, Germany has begun taking a more pragmatic approach towards NATO. It is In 2015 the ECFR conducted a survey of no longer insisting on solutions being sought experts and policy-makers in the EU member- within the EU framework, which ensure states dealing with Germany’s role within the German predominance. Germany is also EU. The survey suggested “that political elites in prepared, when necessary, to resort to NATO all states agree that Germany is the most resources when this is more feasible. The influential member state.” This view “was also recently launched NATO operation to ward off shared” by German participants. Recently, for refugees demonstrates this. example, the chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Germany’s partners in the EU will have to Committee of the Bundestag, Norbert Röttgen decide how to deal with the country’s strength. (Christian Democrat), stated that “we must get German dominance will not go away any time used to the fact that we clearly have a soon, and it will not be balanced in the ways it leadership role in the EU.” At the same time the was before the unification of Germany in 1990, ECFR comments that the question remains when it was junior to France and was whether “EU partners” think that German constrained by its dependence on integration. power benefits “the European interest as a But it is clear that a number of EU member- whole.” There is “another story about German states have begun to centre “their EU strategies power”: “the story of frustration over German around Germany” and think about finding dominance.” “better ways to influence Berlin’s policy The survey revealed that, though govern- machinery,” the think tank reports. ments throughout the EU state that they feel Europeans are investing in “better under- the need to engage with this crucial gate- standing” in reading the German political elite. keeper, they tend not to articulate their Governments, as well as the worlds of finance, dissatisfaction about the effects German power business, and the media, have beefed up their has had on their own influence within the EU. analysis of German policy-making and their There is no doubt about the EU’s significance presence in the country. In fact, contrary to the for German policies: “Germany’s political class” general trend, some media have recently continues to see the EU as “the best available increased the number of their correspondents framework for the articulation of its national in Germany.

8 Rumblings in the west? It only seems like yesterday that rural Ireland was standing up to the Dublin 4 diktat. Luke “Ming” Flanagan was in the Dáil, and the Turf Cutters’ and Contractors’ Association was waging a crusade that was taking rural areas by storm. Ming and Michael Fitzmaurice, backed by an able back-room team, were uniting folks against the over-centralised Irish state and its

masters in Brussels and Berlin. But while the ECFR concentrates its attention on the political establishment of the And then it fell apart. Ming departed to the EU member-states, the question of how to deal oblivion of the . Fitz- with German dominance has become more maurice moved into the “Dáil bubble” and urgent, even beyond the political elite. virtually overnight became stuck to the coat- Germany is pursuing an openly heralded tails of Shane Ross TD, the very personification globalist policy; the web site German Foreign of Dublin 4. All his great talk turned out to be Policy reported a massive build-up in the blether. military and intelligence services, and it is Bad times; but something more positive demanding the same of its “EU partners.” “The may be on the horizon. In recent weeks there objective must be a common European milit- has been a distant rumbling to the west of ary,” Germany’s vice-chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel Galway that may soon get very much louder (Social Democratic Party), declared in July. and bolder. It originates from both north and The German government is simultaneously south Conamara. What is uniting the people of preparing extensive defensive measures for the the Gaeltacht with their English-speaking eventuality of war. Recently a new “Concept of neighbours is the need for an upgrading of the Civil Defence” was passed, which also includes N59. The lack of one decent road in and out of a state-of-emergency constitution. Simultan- Conamara has begun to symbolise wanton eously, the minister of the interior and his indifference to the needs of this area by French counterpart presented a paper that calls successive governments and the Brussels for an increase in domestic surveillance and bureaucracy. repression. It prescribes not only the “intensification of exterior border controls” but even an “entry and departure index,” whereby even citizens of EU member-states would be systematically registered every time they cross a border. A “European identity management” should also be established, to comprehensively network the “international border and security systems.” Co-operation in police work would be reinforced, and the networking of intelligence It would appear that they are both more services expanded—proposals that, when taken interested in the welfare of bog cotton in the together, point towards preparation for war, special areas of conservation than in the future which is a concern not only for the political of the people of Conamara. elite but for everyone. The preliminary census figures point to

9 these failures. Clifden and its hinterland has building motorways through their SACs.) lost almost 18 per cent of its population since the 2011 census. Letterfrack is down an enormous 28 per cent; Ballyconneely down by 15.4 per cent; the Leenane area down by 15.2 per cent; the Renvyle area down by 8.9 per cent. Roundstone too has lost a sizable percent- age of its population, although you would think differently if you visit it in the summer. There, prominent politicians have holiday homes and enjoy a round of golf. But come the winter it is As for the lack of proper broadband in rural a different reality. Insider has heard it said by areas, the EU’s insistence on the privatisation many an astute observer that the parish is of state enterprises lies at the root of this dying. problem. The successful state-sponsored com- pany Eircom was privatised. But private And in the Gaeltacht it is the same story. companies work on the basis of profit, and School intake is a true indicator of the health of supplying broadband to rural areas is clearly a community. Cill Chiaráin’s local school took in not profitable, hence no proper broadband in one child this year; the next school to the west Conamara, and many more rural areas. If in An Aird Mhóir took in one child as well. Two Eircom had remained in state hands this would children will start there next year, but none the not have happened. two following years. Of course it is not just west of Galway that Raidió na Gaeltachta recently reported that rural decline is evident. Co. Galway as a whole Scoil Leitir Mucú in the parish of Ros Muc has suffered a net outflow of people (−3,168), as closed for ever. But perhaps the most poignant did Co. Limerick (−3,375) and Co. Mayo fact in this, the centenary year of the 1916 (−3,246). Rising is that no child joined Scoil an Turlaigh Bhig in Ros Muc in 2016. It was in that school— But you don’t need statistics to know some- or in the old Scoil an Turlaigh Bhig to be thing is rotten in rural Ireland. Just take a drive precise—in which Patrick Pearse organised a from Galway to Roscommon—passing through concert for the kids. He based a short story on small towns such as Ahascragh, Ballyforan, that night, entitled “Na Bóithre.” So much for Dysart, Four Roads, Athleague—and you’ll see Irish freedom! the decay. Dr Maura Farrell of NUIG, an expert on rural Or look at the Irish Examiner of 4 August, sustainability, has argued that broadband today read the headline “Census 2016 shows increase is as important as electricity was fifty or sixty in deserted villages in rural Ireland,” and you years ago. If that is so, then having one decent equally get the message. road for the communities of Conamara must be The minutes of a recent meeting of County of even greater importance, you would think. Galway Joint Policing Committee also tells a The source of both these problems can be story: cut-backs—by courtesy of the EU—have traced directly back to the EU. We are for- meant that sixteen rural stations, staffed part- bidden to turn the N59 into a real national road time by the Gardaí, have no Garda car to use! because the EU forbids any improvement of the Chief Superintendent Tom Curley told the road in an SAC. (It is worth noting that such meeting: “Cars are the most basic tools that we formalities have not stopped the German state need in a county the size of Galway.”

10 prohibited by the EU’s fish quotas. They favour the large foreign fishing fleets. And the development of the natural deep-sea harbour at Ros an Mhíl is short-sightedly ignored by the usual suspects. The demand for an improved N59 road between Galway and Conamara could become a catalyst for demands for greater investment in rural areas—not simply the reopening of Back in 2014 the Government set up the post offices and Garda stations but the creation Commission for the Economic Development of of real local government, where the local Rural Areas under Pat Spillane. Not too long authorities not only have power but have the ago he hit out at the “very slow progress” in finance to help resuscitate rural Ireland. the implementation of its recommendations. It all sounds very familiar. The Kenny Report “Social Europe”: definitely dead and (1974), which would have ended land specul- gone! ation by developers and builders, had the same fate. Even the Greens, who had called for its Supporters of the EU, particularly in the Irish implementation on the eve of joining the labour movement, are fond of citing the EU’s government, dropped the proposal when their so-called “social-democratic” approach to leader, John Gormley, became minister for the economic policy or, more fondly, the “European environment. social model” as a reason why we should all join them in their (so far) uncritical support. The much-heralded Telesis Report (1980)— named after the American consultancy firm Unfortunately for them, the reality of the that carried it out—proposed state investment EU does not support this perception. If the in indigenous industries to help the economy “social model” was ever true, it now seems an grow on a solid, sustainable level. That report out-of-date perception. In the EU, neo- too is gathering dust. liberalism is the dominant policy paradigm, expressed through the “European market After February’s election things could have economy.” been very different. Rural Ireland could have had a united voice in the Dáil, with twelve TDs and automatic speaking rights to raise rural concerns. But that chance was thrown away by Fitzmaurice, Seán Canney TD, Noel Grealish, Denis Naughten, et al. Instead from far-off Norway, Arthur Reynolds, the old sea dog and editor of the Skipper, writes to the papers: “Now the EU concessions to us are drying up, but the intruders fish on.” Indeed the Republic is now a net contrib- utor to the EU budget, so the CAP payouts to farmers are just our recycled taxes coming back The EU has always had a strong emphasis from Brussels. Meanwhile the real jobs that on the market. A crucial reason behind the could be created by an Irish fishing industry are centrality of the market has been that the

11 ultimate political goal was intended to be the euro three years later) and 2016 the achieved on the back of “economic average annual growth rate has been 0.36 per integration”—with each instance of economic cent. integration supposedly creating the “logic” for This economic under-performance has the next stage of political integration. This resulted in persistently high levels of unemploy- began with arguing for supranational regulation ment in the EU as a whole and in the euro zone of economic activity, which, as a result of an in particular. earlier round of liberalisation, could (according to the theory) “no longer” be regulated by Unemployment in the EU has averaged countries. around 21½ million between 2000 and 2016. This equates to about 9 per cent on average This, through a series of treaties and during that period. In April 2016 the unemploy- judgements of the EU Court of Justice, created ment rate in the euro-zone countries stood at a “virtuous circle” of more liberalisation 10.2 per cent; this equates to over 16 million followed by more supranational regulation. people. Between 1995 and 2016 it averaged What was at first economic regulation was then 9.78 per cent. expanded to include other policy areas. We have now reached the stage where the EU has Average youth unemployment is even competence over everything from the regul- worse, in both the EU as a whole and the euro ation of financial services to criminal justice zone. Within the EU, youth unemployment policy. averaged 19½ per cent between 2000 and 2016; in the euro-zone countries it hovered just Yet the myth seems to persist that the EU is above the EU-wide figure at 19.55 per cent some social-democratic paradise; though Jack between 1993 (six years before the euro was O’Connor, writing in the latest edition of the introduced) and 2016; and in 2013 the SIPTU paper, Liberty, says that the break-up of International Labour Organisation announced the EU is inevitable if present policies continue that a staggering quarter of the population of and accuses it of systematically dismantling the the then EU members were at risk of poverty gains of more than half a century of trade and social exclusion. union work. The policies of the European Union are A social model would aim for full employ- helping to confine millions of people to poverty ment, which would require high and sustained and low-wage precarious work. levels of growth. Yet, as a whole, the economies of the EU in general, and those in It must be clear to anyone who has taken the euro zone in particular, have been rather even half an interest in policy issues that the poor according to both these indicators. direction of the EU, and the measures supposedly boosting the EU economy, are not Annual growth in GDP within the EU since working. At some point someone must look at shortly after the creation of the single market, the data and see that it’s not doing what was i.e. from 1996 to 2015, inclusive, has averaged claimed for it. Rather than fixating on the 1.68 per cent. In contrast, in the post-war mythical “social model” it would be much more period the average rate of real growth in the use to the unemployed of the EU for left- GDP of OECD economies was about 4 per cent wingers to think more radically about the in the 1950s and nearly 5 per cent in the 1960s. continuing and significant economic failures. A For the countries in the euro zone, good start would be to acknowledge that economic performance has been even worse. economic policy is best run by national govern- Between 1996 (when member-states were in ments, accountable to electorates uncon- the early stages of preparation for the launch of strained by supranational laws.

12 However, there is a significant barrier to blocked, as domestic legislation cannot bind this sort of change in policy direction. That the court! barrier is the neo-liberalism and the orthodox The EU treaties require member-states to economic philosophy that is built in to EU adopt “an economic policy … conducted in treaties, directives and regulations and that accordance with an open market economy with undermines the different welfare capitalism free competition” (Treaty on the Functioning of models of the member-states. the European Union, article 119), while member-states are also treaty-bound to give priority as “guiding principles for this economic policy [to] stable prices, sound public finances and monetary condition …” (article 119). And the following article 120 of the same treaty requires member-states to “act in accordance with the principle of an open market economy with free competition, favouring a free allocation of resources and in compliance with the principles set out in Article 119,” which is capped by article 121, which The constitutional reality is that EU law is “mandates Member States to regard their the supreme law of Ireland; and as a result an economic policies as matters of common imposed neo-liberal economic policy cannot be concern and co-ordinate them in the Council.” changed by the Oireachtas or the electorate— not that the former sycophantic body would And just to ensure that these articles are want to aspire to exercising even a modicum of adhered to, article 121 has established a sovereignty. The position is the same in the multinational surveillance procedure, giving the other member-states too; so the only way to EU Council the power to issue broad guidelines reclaim economic sovereignty and the tools of for the economic policies of each of the economic policy that come with it and are member-states; and if a state deviates from required by any government that really wanted these guidelines the Council may, by qualified to create, say, a social Ireland is to leave the EU. majority, following a recommendation from the Among the policy tools that would be Commission, make the necessary recommend- reclaimed would be macro-economic policy, ation to the member-state. Lisbon again! regulation, public ownership, and industrial Given the status of EU law as supreme in policy. Ireland, and its constitutionalised position The EU Court of Justice has constitution- throughout the EU, these are significant legal alised the treaties over the six decades of its obligations on any member-state, forcing it to existence, enabling it, when interpreting the follow orthodox neo-liberal macro-policies. So, already market-biased EU treaty provisions, to even if a thirties-style Fianna Fáil government push liberalisation further, increasing both the wanted to pursue a more Keynesian macro- strength and the extent of the policy economic policy, potential difficulties are not constraints on member-states. hard to identify. To understand how the ECJ can do this it is With the essential component of the crucial to know that its decisions interpreting primacy of EU law over that of member-states treaty provisions have constitutional status. So, established by the mid-1960s by the ECJ— political attempts to use domestic legislation to without authorisation in the Treaty of Rome limit the reach of liberalisation are easily (how democratic is that?)—there has been a

13 constant stream of cases that have undermined In the Viking, Laval, Rüffert and Commission national “firewalls” against the ever more rapid v. Luxembourg cases before the ECJ, the latter circulation of capital, goods, and labour. placed the freedom of business to establish in All this is to the benefit of “big capital”— another member-state (article 49) and the but, as evidenced in the growth and unemploy- freedom to provide services (article 56) above ment figures above, not the ordinary working to take industrial action and of people of the member-states of the EU. collectively agreed standards and conditions. Seminal rulings of the ECJ, such as that of As a result of the Viking case, trade union Casis de Dijon, established a rule of “mutual action can now, in effect, be dictated by the recognition” for goods, which in effect constit- courts, which can test the proportionality of utionalised the ability of a business in one the relevant planned industrial action. In the country to ignore a member-state’s regulations Rüffert case, public works contractors were not that might hinder its ability to sell a product in required to comply with collective agreements that were not universally applicable, while in that member-state. The result was an under- mining of the bargaining power of opponents Commission v. Luxembourg, member-states of liberalisation. were prohibited from requiring posted workers to comply with relevant collective agreements. Rulings such as this create a dynamic in the EU’s institutions whereby, under the pretext of In such countries as , Sweden, and merely codifying the case law, the EU Finland, where minimum standards are often Commission, Council and Parliament pass new set by collective agreement rather than in regulations and directives confirming and legislation, the ECJ has driven something of a consolidating the liberalisation originally coach and horses through their models of instigated by the ECJ. welfare capitalism. Furthermore, for everyone else, where collective agreements exist the The upshot of such rulings by the court and basis for their undermining has been the use of EU legislation is the liberalising of established. And, through the Viking and Laval sectors and ensuring that corporate rights are cases in particular, the ECJ has emphatically enshrined in constitutional law. This liberal- subordinated this right to strike to one of the isation has been accompanied by a “privat- EU’s “freedoms”: the free movement of labour. isation of governance”—by, for example, the delegation of product standards to private The relationship between public under- bodies, such as the European Committee for takings and EU competition law goes to the Standardisation heart of the constitutional power of the EU to control the economic, social and political Perhaps the most obvious choices of member-states. EU legislation has example of why the EU is not, consolidated, and continues to consolidate, and never will develop privatisation where it has already happened into, any credible “social and the marketising and commodifying of new model” is the attack on areas. trade union rights in a series of ECJ cases in The renationalisation of energy, tele- the mid and late 2000s. communications and the postal service is no A social market model longer tenable under EU directives. These should not value labour less than capital; yet sectors are being opened up to competition in the EU has decided which side of the fence it all member-states, not just Ireland. In Britain stands on: that of big capital and the the disastrous privatisation of the railways was corporations. in part driven by the requirements of EU law. The forthcoming Fourth Railway Package will

14 enforce the privatisation of passenger rail decision in the hands of Commission officials: services throughout the EU. they enable corporations to challenge the The ECJ has also been interpreting article measures of state aid that a member-state may 106 in such a way as to narrow the space for consider necessary. publicly owned monopolies to operate. The Strict rules also apply to the procurement case law shows that the interpretation of of services by governments. No longer can this article 106 has moved discernibly in the be a tool of industrial policy to encourage direction of a presumption of illegality of infant industries or to ensure regional special or exclusive rights. In fact it can be economic development. EU law requires that argued that over the last two decades the ECJ tenders be awarded in accordance with has encouraged private companies to take principles of non-discrimination. In other advantage of the direct effect of article 106 in words, they cannot be awarded to a company order to undermine state reservations of just because it is based in a member-state, exclusivity—in other words monopolistic public where that domestic business obtaining the utilities. You can guess what might happen to a contract might help sustain a local economy. state-owned Irish Water in the long term! The rigidity of the non-discrimination rules One of the most visible liberalisations has was confirmed by the ECJ in the Telaustria case been in the postal service, where a series of EU (2000). This decision gave courts the power to directives have slowly reduced the value of review the impartiality of procurement services that An Post has sole responsibility for, procedures in relation to non-discrimination, enabling private providers to enter the market. shifting a potentially important aspect of Directive 2008/6/EC, article 7, provides that economic policy-making from democratically “Member States shall not grant or maintain in elected decision-makers to judges. force exclusive or special rights for the Underlying these policy positions, establishment and provision of postal services,” enshrined in EU law, is the orthodox economic thus abolishing the last vestiges of a state-run idea that minimising distortions in the market is monopoly postal service that few complained both necessary and desirable. It comes straight about. from orthodox micro-economics. It relies on A social model would generally be thought the fanciful idea that markets work efficiently to have a central place for industrial policy, to and reach equilibrium. And, because of the encourage industries falling behind to get back constitutional position of EU law, this policy on their feet or to support nascent industries in position is supreme law in Ireland, and developing and getting ahead. However, this permanently precludes the possibility of the kind of interventionist industrial policy is not establishment of a “social Europe.” possible within the EU. Because of rules regarding “state aid” (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, article 107), severe restrictions are placed on what member-states can and cannot do to help their economy. The treaties require the EU to approve all state aid and has strict rules to prevent any activity that they see as “distorting” their “unified market” in all twenty-eight member-states. The rules go further than just putting the

15 It is ironic that this is a concept that was according to Göran Färm of the Swedish Social introduced by Jacques Delors to copperfasten Democrats. the support of the British TUC for Britain’s But the flow of money never stopped. Since remaining in the EU. Now that Britain is on the 2014 the EU has granted €2.3 million to both way out it is a concept that has had its day; and AENM and APF as well as their associated those on the left who still embrace its corpse foundations. The grand total of subsidies paid would be well advised to develop new means to these organisations over the years since they and arenas of struggle in order to achieve the were established is nearly €3 million. social model they desire, as it can be said with certainty that it will not be achieved within the The grants since 2014 were completely EU. unknown to Swedish members of the EU Parlia- ment, who pushed through the change in rules. EU finances extreme-right parties “As I understood it back then, we were certain we had changed the rules,” said Marita European extreme-right and fascist organis- Ulvskog. “It was a reasonable conclusion. We ations have been given nearly €2½ million in EU do set a budget each year, and to eliminate a subsidies since 2014—despite the tightening of certain item in the budget should not be a EU regulations that same year in order to problem.” prevent such funding. Since 2014 the AENM, which first caused EU lawmakers say they were unaware of the furore, has been granted more than €1 the payments. The EU Parliament has granted million in subsidies. Its associated foundation, nearly €600,000 in subsidies to the far-right Identités et Traditions Européennes, has been European-level political party Alliance for Peace granted some €610,000. The total amount and Freedom and its associated foundation. comes to about €1.7 million. This year the far- Some of the money was used to finance a right party Alliance for Peace and Freedom has gathering in Stockholm in May. been granted some €400,000 in EU subsidies. But the flood of money to fascist organis- The party’s foundation, Europa Terra Nostra, ations in the EU is even bigger than previously has been granted nearly €200,000. believed. Despite a tightening of rules in 2014 The reason the subsidies have continued to intended to prevent subsidies being granted to be granted, despite the tightening of rules, is a anti-democratic groups, the money has kept clause in the law that the then president of the flowing. In total, €2.3 million was disbursed in EU Parliament, Martin Schulz, signed in Stras- the years 2014–16. bourg on 22 October 2014. According to this The tightening of rules came following clause, the change of rule will not take effect outrage after it was revealed that another far- until January 2017. This crucial clause in the right EU political party, the Alliance of Euro- law appears to have gone unnoticed by many pean National Movements, had been granted members of the EU Parliament. hundreds of thousands of euros.

When the EU Parliament took the decision The Alliance of European National Movements to tighten up its regulations, lawmakers was founded in 2009. Among the parties and enthusiastically hailed the termination of politicians affiliated to it are: funding to AENM. “Now we have introduced clear rules on who is entitled to funding, and Jobbik (Movement for a Better Hungary). from now on parties will have to provide Jobbik was started in 1999 at Hungarian documentation showing they subscribe to universities as the student organisation of democracy and stand up for civil rights,” Hungary’s then biggest far-right party, the

16 Hungarian Justice and Life Party (MIÉP). In 2003 are: Jobbik was re-established as a political party, Mouvement Nation (Nation Movement), calling itself radical-nationalist. Belgium. -denier Hervé van Laethem of the organisation Mouvement Nation is a board member of the APF. Since the 1980s he has led a number of radical groups and has been prosecuted numerous times because of his flagrant racism. Vlaanderen Identitair (Flanders Identitarian), a Flemish movement, became a member of the APF in March 2016. It works closely with Mouvement Nation.

Danskernes Parti (Party of the Danes). In 2007 Jobbik created a paramilitary wing, Danskernes Parti, a sister-party of the defunct Magyar Gárda (Hungarian Guard). They wear Svenskarnas Parti (Party of the Swedes), is uniforms reminiscent of the Arrow Cross and represented in the APF by its leader, Daniel other Nazi “free corps” of the 1930s, conduct Carlsen. The party was set up in 2011 and has weapons training, and perform parades at no seats in the Danish parliament. It is a nexus Jobbik meetings, in addition to their own for the scattered white-power movement in marches. Denmark and has close ties to the German Magyar Gárda was ordered to dissolve by party NPD. the Hungarian courts on 2 July 2009. It now describes itself as a cultural association but the marches continue. Jobbik has been frequently noted for its blatant and unabashed racism. Movimento Sociale—Fiamma Tricolore (Social Movement—Tricolour Flame), Italy. This party was established in 1995 by Pino Rauti, former leader of the Movimento Sociale Italiano (Italian Social Movement). In 2004 he founded the Movimento Idea Sociale. The neo- fascist Fiamma Tricolore is closely related ideologically to the that governed the Chrysí Avgí (), Greece. Golden Italian Social Republic headed by Mussolini in Dawn has been successful at both the national 1943–45, propped up by . and the EU level, with three members of the EU Parliament. Artémis Matthaiópoulos, deputy Slovenska nacionalna stranka (Slovenian chairman of the APF’s executive board, is also a National Party). This organisation describes member of parliament in Greece. itself as a nationalist party. The party leader said during a television appearance that the Forza Nuova (New Force), Italy. Roberto politics of the left is only about giving benefits Fiore, leader of Forza Nuova and chairman of to everything and everyone, for example to the APF, has for the past few years been “” and “gypsies.” masterminding an attempt to forge alliances between Europe’s far-right parties. He was Alliance for Peace and Freedom. The AFP was elected to the EU Parliament in 2008. Forza formally founded in 2015 but has been active Nuova has no seats at present in the Italian since 2014. Among the parties affiliated to it parliament.

17 Democracia Nacional (National Demo- Roma encampments and for protesting against cracy), Spain. Democracia Nacional is repres- a Pride parade. ented in the APF by Gonzalo Martín García. He Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands is in charge of the party’s international ties and (National Democratic Party of Germany). The was previously in contact with the Party of the NPD secured one mandate in the EU Parliament Swedes. Democracia Nacional has no members elections of 2014. The party is represented on of parliament. Martín García stood as a the APF’s executive board by Jens Pühse. candidate in the last EU elections. Within the NPD he was tasked with maintaining Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti the party’s international ties. It also gained a (Workers’ Party of Social Justice), Czech few seats in Germany’s recent local elections. Republic. This party has no seats in either the The NPD is being investigated at present and Czech or the EU parliament. It has gained may end up being banned because of notoriety for its aggressive marches through Germany’s prohibition against Nazi parties.

People’s Movement · 25 Shanowen Crescent · Dublin 9 · www.people.ie 087 2308330 · [email protected]

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