Challenging times ahead in European parliament The Dublin government cannot be relied upon to defend Irish interests in Europe Sinn Féin had a spectacular result in the European election in 2014, electing 4 MEPs – the first time any single party had ever been elected to represent every part of Ireland in the European Parliament. Five years on it’s useful to recall this fact – not by way of diverting from disappointment about the 2019 result, but in order to provide a bit of context. Sinn Féin – with two MEPs – is still the second biggest party in Ireland. It polled 14.48% of the vote across 32 counties. Certainly the loss of two excellent MEPs and a dramatic decrease in the percentage vote is deserving of detailed analysis. However we also need to look at a broader picture. For example Sinn Féin successes in the European Parliament over the last number of year have not been sufficiently acknowledged. Among other things the Sinn Féin team of MEPs and activists: - led the way on Brexit, eventually bringing the Dublin government and the EU to positions broadly defined by Sinn Féin. - placed Irish unity on the agenda in the EU in a way it has never before been. - gained firm commitments to postBrexit funding in the PEACE and INTERREG programmes. - challenged the Dublin governments complicity in helping large multinationals avoid paying taxes.
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BY BRIAN CARTY
- ensured that Ireland used its ability to opt out of domestic metered water charges. Sinn Féin MEPs also raised and campaigned on countless other issues which would otherwise have been ignored by the establishment parties. The reduced numbers of Sinn Féin MEPs might come as a relief to Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, but that would underestimate the tenacity and resolve of the Sinn Féin team in Europe. By way of additional context, the result for left-wing forces across the EU was poor. Small advances in some countries were offset by greater losses in others. The group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) went from 52 seats in the European Parliament in 2014 down to 41 seats in 2019, with some parties dropping out of the Parliament completely. As an aside, many people around the EU must be looking, somewhat superficially, at the 14 MEPs elected and concluding that Ireland looks ripe for social, economic and ecological transformation, with half its MEPs being in GUE/NGL (5) or the Greens (2).
So where does that leave Sinn Féin in the European Parliament? The challenges are not reduced. On the contrary, Brexit will certainly increase Ireland’s difficulties in the time ahead – deal or no deal. The appointment of a former defence
ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 anphoblacht
