Speech by FF Leader Micheál Martin during Dáil Statements on the European Council meeting

This was a disappointing summit by any measure. Its conclusions were largely written well in advance, it failed to agree anything on its major items and there was a setback in relation to what had previously been a consensus on the critical challenge of climate change. At a moment when the European Union is on the edge of an economic downturn, faces unprecedented political threats and needs to demonstrate unity and purpose, this was not a summit to encourage anyone.

The failure to agree on any of the key institutional appointments for the next five years was not a surprise – these things always drag on. What has been a surprise has been the continued attachment by some leaders to the discredited and undemocratic Spitzenkandidat system.

Interviews published yesterday in which the Taoiseach’s candidate Manfred Weber said that he is the only legitimate choice for the Commission seems to suggest that he and his party put their own interests ahead of finding a widely accepted outcome.

Even if you accept that the European Parliamentary elections are fought in a cross-Europe basis with leaders known to the public, which of course they are not, parties with a quarter of the support of the electorate do not have the right to demand the automatic right to control key institutions.

Mr Weber has not demonstrated that he has the skills needed to lead the Union and form a new bond with citizens. He has never held any executive role outside of parliamentary management and has never held any role which requires active engagement with the public. He should have the good grace to stand aside.

We would again remind the Taoiseach that the Presidency of the European Central Bank is critical for the future of this country and the whole Eurozone.

It is inevitable that it will form part of a package with the current jobs being filled.

Under no circumstance should any person be nominated for the job who has been an opponent of Mario Draghi’s interventionist policies during his term. We don’t want last minute converts seeking to grab the job with convenient changes of mind. President Macron’s position on this, while unusually strident, is absolutely right and we should support him on this.

Economic and Monetary Union is incomplete and the ECB needs a leader who understands this – not one wedded to the failed orthodoxies of ten years ago.

The Summit also agreed to return to the issue of the Multi-Annual Funding Framework in October with the intention of reaching a conclusion by the end of the year. It is not yet clear where these discussions are going but we believe Ireland should join those countries that are being more explicit in supporting an increase in the Union’s Budget particularly to support action on innovation, regional cohesion and climate change.

The Budget should not be allowed to become another zero-sum game where the objectives set are ambitious but the financial means are yet again less than 1% of the size of Europe’s economy.

The decision of a small group of countries to block the adoption of ambitious climate change targets is a very serious development. The excuse they used was the need for extra funding for their energy and automotive industries. If this type of approach is seen during the rest of this year it will be almost impossible to reach a credible outcome or to move from words to action on key policies.

These countries need to understand that a 2050 climate goal is one every country can and should work towards – and the countries with the biggest car auto industries and energy sectors are willing to sign up, so their excuses simply don’t wash. Applying short-term negotiating tactics to leverage a small amount of funding does not impress anyone.
Of course, a major issue with the discussions on the Budget is the continued uncertainty about the relationship which we will have with the UK.

It is often hard to know just how seriously we should take comments from the Tory leadership candidates because they are manifestly using arguments which they must know have zero real-world credibility.

In a month’s time there will most likely be a new Prime Minister and there will be no clarity as to what their Brexit policy actually is unless Mr Johnson is committed to trying to inflict the vandalism of a no deal outcome on everyone.

As we saw in yesterday’s economic statement there is actually nothing put aside for a no deal outcome. There is no net stimulus planned or available. Money earmarked for items such as the already underway Health overrun is simply due to be transferred to help sectors which will quickly be caught in a crisis on October 31st.

A fortnight ago the Taoiseach acknowledged, at least implicitly, that Ireland was not ready for Brexit in March. He claimed that the government was ready – something which simply doesn’t stand up to scrutiny – but admitted that the wider economy was not.

Part of this was his usual tactic of pushing the blame onto others – but much of it was an admission that claims that everything which could be done had been done were not true.

As we focus now on the harsh deadline of October 31st it’s time to up the game and for government to accept its responsibility to make sure that the disruption to business is minimised. We need to end reliance on useless metrics like the numbers looking up websites and to take a more active and interventionist approach.

At a minimum, every business which needs to register to continue trading needs to be contacted again and again until action is taken. Equally we need to know as soon as possible what is to be done to help industries and communities experiencing disruption.

During the recent election Commissioner Hogan, the Government and Fine Gael candidates issued coordinated statements about potential aid for the agri-food industry.

This appeared to break previous accepted limits for action during an election, however more importantly we need this promised aid to be put in place immediately. Let’s not continue the policy of waiting until all the damage is done before trying to help.

Rather than having a third summer in a row where the media is filled with the Taoiseach and others making self-congratulatory statements about Brexit, we need a detailed and credible update on Ireland’s preparations for all scenarios which might appear on October 31st or later.

The Summit briefly considered a report on hybrid threats and specifically attempts to undermine free democracies in Europe. Yet again there have been attempts by one country to promote division, undermine the European Union and support extremists on the right primarily but also on the left in some countries.

On a number of occasions recently Deputy Boyd-Barret has objected to how I have pointed to the silence of many of our left-wing parties on the issue of Russian aggression against European democracies, in Syria and in support of repressive regimes in many parts of the world. Because of the structure of these debates I do not have the opportunity to reply to him.

So I would like to point out again that I fully appreciate the unique position of the Social Workers’ Party within the People Before Profit Alliance in being a party of the far left which takes an anti-Putin line. This is emphatically not a position shared with some other parties and Deputies here.

Far too often we have had to listen to people lecture us about rights and then either fall silent about Russia’s aggression or to actively justify its behaviour. Sinn Fein’s pro-partition approach to Ukraine is particularly striking.

Europe needs to protect its democracies and we need greater urgency in pushing the major social networking platforms to use more of their huge income to track and take down misinformation and incitements to hatred and division.

This is, once again, a restatement of the need to take action to protect the viability of independent journalism as a profession and a viable industry. Fianna Fáil believes that it is past time for the government to take up our proposals on this matter.
We support the government’s strong position in relation to not lifting Russian sanctions and the Summit’s commitment to stand by Ukraine. The attempt to strangle Ukraine through closing the Kerch Straits, holding soldiers as hostages, giving Russian citizenship to Ukrainians in the occupied East and the refusal to hand over for trial to the Netherlands those accused of murdering hundreds on flight MH17 – these factors and more add up to a situation where nothing has improved, and no sanctions should be lifted.

In relation to Turkey, the Istanbul result is encouraging but it is necessary to remain firm with the government particularly with its growing repression of the Kurdish minority.

When the Council reconvenes, it should take time to note the deteriorating situation in Israel and Palestine. The latest so-called peace initiative from the White House is nothing of the sort. As the Washington Post writes today, it is a policy seeking the surrender and humiliation of millions of stateless people.

A policy of illegal annexation is under-way and there is an attempt to bury any possibility of a just solution. It also appears that as Prime Minister Netanyahu gets further embroiled in legal troubles the more willing he is to radicalise Israeli politics.
Europe cannot just sit quietly on the sidelines as this happens. We have to reconsider our actions and we have to speak out against a very dark turn of events.