The central purpose of the Amsterdam Treaty negotiated while the Deputy's party was in Government is to enhance the EU's capacity for peacekeeping and crisis management. The EU is not a military organisation and the Western European Union possesses negligible resources of its own. NATO possesses such resources and a key element as I made clear in this House before, is effective and mutual co-operation between institutions, such as the EU, the Western European Union and NATO, so the EU can act for peace and security in Europe through the Petersberg Tasks. This is crisis man agement and conflict resolution right across the board.
At the informal EU summit in Poertschach last October, the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, raised the question of enhancing the effectiveness of the common foreign and security policy in the face of crises such as the Balkans, particularly, if and when, other countries do not wish to be fully engaged. These ideas were further aired at an Anglo-French summit at St. Malo in early December. At the Vienna European Council in December, it was agreed to continue to reflect on these issues. Central to these reflections is the imminent entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam under which the EU can use the Western European Union to undertake the Petersberg Tasks of humanitarian, rescue, peacekeeping and crisis management.
I, like other neutral countries, want to see the effective implementation of the Amsterdam Treaty provisions on the Petersberg Tasks, which were the result of an initiative by Sweden and Finland and fully supported by Ireland. The ongoing debate as far as our position is concerned and that of the other neutral countries should proceed with respect for the provisions of the Amsterdam Treaty and the specific positions – this is the important point – of the non-allied EU member states, including Ireland, should be taken into account. That is accepted by other EU member states and our position on neutrality is a principled one.
As long as we remain neutral, we have an obligation to ensure our position is clear within the EU and as long as I am Minister for Foreign Affairs, I will continue to do that. That is why last Thursday I, and the other neutral countries, felt this statement – one statement was made before the bombing started and the shorter one after it – showed an unnecessary bias in a NATO context. That is why we wanted to make it more EU and neutral friendly. I am fully committed to Irish neutrality until there is a referendum and the people decide otherwise. I respectfully suggest that if there was a referendum on Irish neutrality tomorrow, it would hold the principle of continuing Irish neutrality.