Yesterday Gerard Hogan SC asserted on RTE Radio 1′s ‘This Week’ programme that the passing of the Lisbon Treaty ‘cannot possibly disimprove’ workers’ rights. Here Joe Higgins replies.
It is incredible that RTE can present a well known Fine Gael supporter as an unbiased legal opinion on the Lisbon Treaty. Is it beyond the national broadcaster’s capabilities to find a contrary legal opinion to facilitate an honest and fair debate?
Mr Hogan’s opinion is at odds with the reality of the high profile rulings of the European Court of Justice which he himself admitted will, in the final analysis, be the interpretor of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Treaty itself.
Similalry the Dáil Committee on the Lisbon treaty made up of ‘Yes’ side politicians cannot be creditted as an unbiased opinion on the issue of workers’ rights’.
Even leaving aside Article 52 of the Charter which limits the rights of workers, the drive towards privitisation of public services which is also enshrined in the treaty also poses a real threat to workers in those sectors.
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