THE GREEN PARTY has announced that it will not be adopting a position on the forthcoming Fiscal Treaty referendum following a vote among its membership at the party’s annual convention.
Of the party members who voted this weekend, 62 per cent voted in favour of supporting the treaty.
However, the vote falls short of the two-thirds majority the party requires for adopting a stance on the issue.
Addressing delegates at the convention in Kilkenny, party leader Eamon Ryan said that people have become “frightened by the economic crisis and jaded by some jaded by some of the tired arguments that have raged around environmental debates”.
“However that tide will turn with the inevitable rise of environmental problems and with the realisation that it does provide an alternative to the current failed model of capitalism,” he added.
“We need to prepare for that turn and make sure that the Irish people have the choice of a political party which has real experience and understanding as to what this new political philosophy can bring.”
Manuel Sarrazin, member of the German parliament and German Green Party spokesperson for European Affairs spoke at the convention. Ryan called on Sarrazin to urge the Bundestag to support a deal for alleviating Ireland’s debt burden.
“It should be done not as a favour or as a special case, but in recognition that the structures of the Euro and the rule book for the ECB that were flawed from the start are still not working,” Ryan said.
Meanwhile, other issues up for discussion at the convention included engaging more women in politics, reforming local government, and the Rio+20 Summit (the UN conference on sustainable development).
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