Does Bertie want the EU treaty to pass?

According to the Irish Times today, the Government (along with the Poles) have negotiated a right to opt-out of the charter of fundamental rights in the new EU treaty. The Taoiseach forgot to mention this at a press conference, in fact mentioning that the charter would be a selling point in next years referendum.

An opt-out might be a bit of a problem:

Trade unions argue that these rights may develop over time given the fluid nature of EU law. Blair Horan, general secretary of the Civil Public and Services’ Union (CPSU), said it was possible the charter could develop to influence domestic law in the future.

He said he was shocked the Government had negotiated an “opt out” from the charter. “In my view the trade union movement in Ireland would never support a treaty with an opt out, which would be doomed to failure in a referendum.

“The CPSU motion at the Ictu conference next week in Bundoran will seek support for this position,” he said.

If pro-European forces here start opposing the treaty it will fail. I have no idea what Bertie, who comments here suggest is moving back towards the more social democrat wing of Fianna Fail with recent cabinet appointments, was thinking when/if he allowed this idea, which is more in line with the more “pro-business” side of the party and the PDs. I can’t imagine the Greens will be too impressed.

In my view one of the great benefits of EU membership - beyond the massive assistance in economic development - has been the rapid modernisation of Irish social and labour law so I’ll be pretty annoyed if this report is true.