Sir, – Stephen Collins displays an in-depth knowledge of the chicanery and intrigue that may be needed to navigate the politics of the EU in Brussels in criticising Fianna Fáil MEPs for voting against the nomination of Ursula von der Leyen. Indeed, there can be no doubt this may even be the dominant view (“Political stupidity of Fianna Fáil four could see Ireland end up with a bottom-of-the-barrel job in Europe”, Opinion & Analysis, July 26th). However, there are other perspectives.
The European Parliament is a unique achievement of European integration, a multinational and directly elected parliament that meets and votes mainly according to transnational party lines. It is hard to imagine it being created in today’s political climate.
The European Parliament also has a critical role in addressing the perceived democratic deficit in the European Union by generally putting the concerns of citizens on an equal footing to those of member states.
Indeed, Irish MEPs have cited precisely citizens’ concerns as their logic for voting against the nominee of the European Council. This role is in contrast to the tradition of picking candidates in smoke-filled rooms.
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To suggest that these roles be subsumed in a shorter-term consideration of what portfolio the Irish commissioner receives, even assuming this is what would happen, would be bad for the EU’s evolving decision making process. Notwithstanding the fact that the European Commission acts on a collective basis, the upshot of such an approach would be to emasculate the European Parliament and ensure the dominance of the Council of Minsters and a European Parliament which would vote on national lines.
There would of course be other approaches to the issues involved in the concerns raised about Ursula von der Leyen: perhaps political groups could insist that the European Commission president also respects the institutional balance when it comes to foreign policy matters, for example. Turning the European Parliament into a replica of the member states that merely pursue the agenda of national governments is not the way to improve the European Union. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL McLOUGHLIN,
Dublin 15.
Sir, – For some, such as Stephen Collins, the actions of Fianna Fáil’s MEPs in voting against a candidate for president of the European Commission who they felt was not the right person for the job was “political stupidity”. For others, it’s called political integrity.
The idea that Billy Kelleher, Barry Andrews, Barry Cowen and Cynthia Ní Mhurchú should’ve shut up and quietly done the bidding of other politicians rather than the Irish people – their electorate – is an outright insult to the idea of political integrity.
Ten of Ireland’s democratically elected MEPs voted against a candidate to head the executive arm of the European Union who has publicly displayed her opposition to the views of the vast majority of Irish people on the issue of Palestine. Surely that was the correct decision? Despite your columnist’s suggestion, I would think the votes of the four Fianna Fáil MEPs would have far less of a determining factor on the European Commission portfolio assigned to Michael McGrath than the Irish Government’s outright refusal to meet Ursula von der Leyen’s request from all EU states to put forward male and female candidates for their commissioner.
Political integrity matters, and I don’t believe Ms von der Leyen is a petty individual who will put getting back at politicians ahead of ensuring the EU has commissioners who are the most experienced and qualified in their portfolios. But maybe that’s just me. – Yours, etc,
TOMÁS HENEGHAN,
Dublin 3.
Sir, – I am afraid that Stephen Collins significantly understates the actions of European Commission president von der Leyen in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel last October.
Without any authority or mandate, Ms von der Leyen visited Israel and declared that the EU “stands with Israel today and in the days to come”. The Israeli flag was hoisted on the roof of the Berlaymont alongside the EU flag and the Israeli ambassador was invited by her to attend the weekly meeting of the full European Commission.
As your paper reported on October, 13th, 2023, she “expressed unambiguous support for Israel, regardless, apparently, of how it chooses to respond”. Unlike other EU leaders, she made no call whatsoever for Israel to respect international law, instead saying, “I know how Israel responds will show how it is a democracy”. Almost 40,000 deaths later, we can see how that “democratic” response has played out.
Rather than describing the actions of the four Fianna Fáil MEPs as “political stupidity”, I would suggest that many people would regard their actions and those of the six other Irish MEPs as showing that, for once, our elected representatives can vote on their principles rather than on the basis of short-term political expediency. – Yours, etc,
MARTIN McDONALD,
Dublin 12.
Sir, – Surely Stephen Collins is wrong when he suggests that appointment to these very important positions is little more than a grateful president handing out rewards to those that supported her election. Surely her primary responsibility to the rest of us is to ensure the person best equipped to do the job is appointed in every case.
It also seems that your columnist believes the Government’s refusal to add a female to the nominations will come into the reckoning. But this condition being set Ms by von der Leyen shows how out of touch she is and must bring into question her suitability for the role of president. Does she not know that there are many different gender identities, including male, female, gender neutral, non-binary, agender, pangender, and third gender? – Yours, etc,
JIM O’SULLIVAN,
Rathedmond,
Sligo.