Article by Traditional Unionist MEP Jim Allister for EP Magazine
28 April 2008
The fact that Northern Ireland is the only region in the whole of the EU – indeed in the whole of western democratic civilisation – where the electorate is, by law, denied the democratic right to ever vote a party out of office, is testimony in itself to the undemocratic ethos and practice of the Belfast Agreement.
This assault on fundamental democratic principles is the centre piece of the iniquitous Belfast Agreement. It’s called “mandatory coalition” and requires every party, of any significant size, to be guaranteed, as of right, and for ever, a place in government. It is in place for one reason only, namely, as a quid pro quo for stopping daily killing, to guarantee IRA/Sinn Fein – those who subjected Northern Ireland to 30 years of indescribable terrorism – a place right at the heart of government of a state they do not accept and are dedicated to destroy. Needless to say, the Belfast Agreement makes no provision for an Opposition within the structures of government in Northern Ireland. Thus, today, Northern Ireland has the most undemocratic structures of anywhere in the EU. Hence, my unbending opposition to the new regime at Stormont.
To some it might seem cuddly and enlightened to have unrepentant terrorists at the heart of your government. To me it is an obscenity!
Recently, we had the EU Task Force for Northern Ireland, set up by President Barroso, report its findings. Like many EU presentations, when you strip away the fine verbiage, it signified little new. Certainly, no new money is headed our way, at best it unwraps some of the mystery surrounding already available EU programmes. I’ve no doubt the Chuckle Brothers – as Joint First Ministers, Paisley and McGuinness, are scornfully referred to - missed a trick when they had President Barroso in Belfast, at the height of the new government’s honeymoon. Just as President Delors effectively made policy on the hoof for Northern Ireland when he agreed the PEACE Programme – which did not fit within prevailing budget and policy provisions – so Barroso should have been strong-armed, or charmed – whichever it took - into an Infrastructure Package for Northern Ireland.
The case was overwhelming. Northern Ireland never qualified for the serious infrastructural aid under the Cohesion Fund, because of the national qualifying criteria. In consequence of first call in national expenditure being necessarily on security funding, as we fought off the IRA’s terror campaign, infrastructure expenditure suffered, leaving a legacy of underspend on roads and water & sewage. If the EU really wanted to help Northern Ireland then a special time-limited package of infrastructural aid could have done more than anything else to bolster our economy and competitiveness. A Task Force focussed on this would have been a real boost.
To the outsider things may look good in Northern Ireland. Yes, and apart from the perversion of democracy, things are better. It’s good my constituents are not dying on a daily basis because of terrorism, though if such is only so long as we tolerate IRA/Sinn Fein in our government, then we are being blackmailed as well as conned. If IRA/Sinn Fein is irreversibly committed to peaceful means, then why do they still cling to their wicked Army Council? If they are genuinely supporting the rule of law then why have they done nothing to secure justice for McCartney sisters, who so impressed us all in the European Parliament. And, why did Sinn Fein’s military wing murder Paul Quinn just a few months ago? This is not how truly democratic organisations behave. Nor is mandatory coalition how any democracy should be governed.
