Brits In?

Apparently Ireland and the UK have a common approach to the EU now. This may have been news to a lot of people. We don’t remember much discussion about this, a Dail debate, an appearance at a committee, no it just seemed to be announced. Nobody would advocate being opposed to the UK in Europe because of outdated nationalist shibboleths but does it always follow that a country will share priorities with its nearest neighbour?

Of course we can clearly see things that the UK and Ireland have in common in the EU. In relation to taxation there is common ground, in other areas such as Schengen and Justice and Hone Affairs there are common interests but not necessarily equal ones. Ireland has effectively been forced in to certain positions on these questions through the common travel area and our respective common law traditions. Nobody wants passport checks on the dual carriageway between Dundalk and Newry after all.

But this does not necessarily suggest that the interests of Ireland and the UK accord on all areas of EU policy. To start with the blinding well obvious Ireland is in the Euro and the UK is not. This was a very deliberate and thought out decision by Ireland at the time and regardless of recent developments it undoubtedly has had benefits in terms of inward investment and the location of European Head Quarters here. Membership of the Euro is a factor in this. While the UK has often been reluctant in the area of European Defence this is mainly because of the value it puts on the NATO alliance and its perceived transatlantic role.

Social Policy down the years has been another major bone of contention. Ireland generally has implemented agreed directives even though the move now is away from this methodology. The UK has controversially opted out of much of this area. It is rather difficult to see then what exactly the areas of commonality are.

So what’s this all about? Desperation unfortunately is the most probable reason. The UK is not far short of a pariah state whether we like it or not amongst EU leaders. One only has to attend the most basic EU type meetings to see eyes raised upwards when the Brits take the Mic. This is rather unfair often but an undeniable reality. The core European countries just feel their desire rightly or wrongly to get on with things is constantly and often needlessly frustrated by the UK. Ireland on the other hand needs allies wherever it can get them and we often do turn naturally to our nearest neighbour in the European ferment. However it seems questionable as to whether this should be elevated to the level of doctrine.

Cameron has displayed a surprising lack of tact in his EU policies (as opposed to a far more mature approach to domestic and transatlantic issues) starting way back with his taking the Tories out of the powerful EPP party and group. Similarly his walking away form the Fiscal Compact negotiations and an ill fated short lived attempt to coordinate a non Euro alliance all have left the UK back where it started in its relations with the EU. Many observers believe he simply doesn’t get it and is too willing to placate the red tops and his back benchers, that’s fine but should we go all the way along this road?

Maybe this is a once off flash in the pan initiative, we will have to wait and see. However it is hard to envisage somebody like Garrett Fitzgerald signing up to a project like this. There is a challenge in Irish foreign policy to work well with the UK and with Europe. It should not be an either or and our leaders would do well to rise to this challenge.

Leading on Conflict is not Just for Christmas

Transdniestria is not a region that excites a huge amount of conversation up and down the byroads and boreens ofIreland. However recently we have seen a good deal of Irish official interest in this “frozen conflict” with the main players arriving in Farmleigh for talks. Now when we hear on the main morning talk show that people are coming to Ireland to talk about conflict we could be forgiven for thinking the odds of success are low. I would have more confidence if the principles were bundled in to a few small country cottages away from the glare of the media and their domestic political audiences if we wanted to see a real breakthrough. Of course when we say Ireland we really mean the country holding the chair of the OSCE, it is hard to say when Ireland itself has had anything much to say on conflict in the Caucasus or Moldova.

Irelands chairing of the OSCE is a big issue in our foreign policy at the moment. Attention on the issue of “frozen conflicts” is one of the themes, this all sounds quite impressive. However we didn’t seek out the chairpersonship of the 56 member conflict prevention and resolution body it is really a case of taking our turn. Furthermore we didn’t establish the priority of “frozen conflicts”, a cursory Google search shows action by the chairperson in office some four years ago. Maybe we protest too much.Irelandis taking a leading role in these conflicts so let’s go with that. However we might be forgiven for asking what happens after we relinquish the role of chair at years end (there is a troika system so members keep a leadership role for 3 years in reality).

Will we still be chairing meetings and getting everyone together about Abkhazia and South Ossetia into 2013? I think we know the answer. This is somewhat ironic as The Department of Foreign Affairs has put a lot of effort in to establishing a conflict resolution unit which seems to do good work but on a rather piecemeal basis. So here’s a thought. Couldn’t our conflict resolution unit and some of the diplomats rehired on a temporary basis for our OSCE term keep working on one of these conflicts bringing whatever experience and perspective we might have as a small country which has suffered from conflict itself? It doesn’t have to feature on Morning Ireland or in the news at all.

Maybe this does go on behind the scenes and we don’t know about it but somehow we wonder. Maybe, like with the Middle East, we could be treated to diverse leaders emerging form a discrete location somewhere in Ireland with a bit of paper in a few years time to everyone’s surprise and delight. If it doesn’t work at least we would have tried.