Fine Gael short of friends in European grouping
The get-together of politicians and party leaders in Valencia was described as a 'reunion of friends' by
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen
.
The German was speaking at the congress of the
European People's Party
, the grouping of centre-right parties that dominates EU politics. It hasn't been the friendliest place lately for its Irish member,
Fine Gael
.
The EPP has the most seats in the
European Parliament
and the most national leaders sitting around the table at regular EU summits. It counts the parties of Polish prime minister Donald Tusk and incoming German chancellor Friedrich Merz among its number.
The EPP leadership had decided that landmark European Union reforms to tackle climate change had gone too far
Behind the scenes, it wields significant influence over the political agenda of the European Union, driving a recent rightward shift on migration and climate policy.
READ MORE
In the European Parliament this has left Fine Gael's four MEPs looking isolated, on the more centrist, liberal wing of the group.
This drift came to a head last year. The EPP leadership had decided that landmark EU reforms to tackle climate change had gone too far. Farmers were taking to the streets to protest and the 2024 European elections were fast approaching. The pushback was led by the EPP's leader in the parliament, Manfred Weber, a conservative German MEP.
The group opposed legislation that would require EU states to reverse biodiversity and nature loss. However, Fine Gael broke ranks in a crunch European Parliament vote, defying their EPP colleagues to help pass the Nature Restoration Law. 'That's remembered in the EPP,' said one source in the grouping this week. Weber is certainly unlikely to forget it.
Simon Harris taking over as Fine Gael leader also offered a chance for a reboot
Efforts have been made to repair relations and improve Fine Gael's standing in the group over the past year. The greater focus now put on Europe's economic competitiveness has helped, as that's a topic where Fine Gael comfortably aligns with the rest of the group. 'On the economy, we're 100 per cent in line with the EPP,' said Sean Kelly MEP.
Simon Harris taking over as Fine Gael leader also offered a chance for a reboot. He was an unknown entity on the European stage when he became taoiseach. His predecessor, Leo Varadkar, had a network built up within the EPP over many years, something Harris has had to work to cultivate over the last 12 months.
A lot of the horse trading that goes on in Brussels takes political affiliation into account. So having a good relationship with other leaders and players in the EPP camp can help influence decisions.
Working this informal EPP circle will be important for Harris as Minister for Foreign Affairs, to win others around to the Republic's thinking on how the EU should respond to US president Donald Trump's trade tariffs.
The Fine Gael contingent in the European Parliament has picked up an eagerness from Harris to improve relations inside the EPP and with the party's MEPs. 'There has been a difference, Harris does want to engage more', said one source.
At the congress in Valencia this week, former EU commissioner and Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness was elected to be one of the EPP's 10 vice-presidents
A mark against him was his absence at a meeting bringing together party leaders in Berlin earlier this year, organised by Weber and Merz. The EPP's 'leaders' retreat' took place in mid-January, when Harris was tied up selling the Coalition deal underpinning the current Government to his party members.
At the congress in Valencia this week, former EU commissioner and Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness was elected to be one of the EPP's 10 vice-presidents.
Fine Gael has traditionally always held one of the vice-president positions. Helen McEntee was the last Irish politician in the role, elected for a three-year stint in 2019 when she was minister of State for European affairs.
Eyebrows were raised in the EPP when Fine Gael failed to nominate anyone to run to take over from her. The party wanted to win the position back this time. Out of 12 candidates, McGuinness finished ninth in the internal election, taking the second-last vice-president spot.
The conference also gave Fine Gael some insight into what to expect from Merz, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union, who will take over as German chancellor next week.
Speaking to delegates in Valencia, Merz said Germany would drive European politics again. 'I know that many of you expect more German leadership than we have seen in the last years, both in the EU and on the international level ... We will and we have to invest a lot more energy into moving Europe forward,' he said.
The conservative politician is on the right flank of the EPP and made it clear that this is the direction he hopes to steer things. In his conference speech, Merz said the EU should take a much tougher approach to asylum seekers, expand as a defence and military power, and roll back 'nonsense' regulations.
When Harris got up to speak on Wednesday, he talked about the EPP fighting the rise of populism from a 'progressive and compassionate' centre ground.
The majority of the EPP favours Merz's vision. Fine Gael will either have to follow him to the right or get comfortable remaining out of step with their European colleagues.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
This is a housing strategy written by Flann O'Brien
When they were introduced in 2016, rent pressure zones (RPZs) represented a courageous move by Simon Coveney and Fine Gael , a party that prefers to let the market determine what happens in housing . The first generation of RPZs limited rent increases to 4 per cent annually in 21 locations. These increases were subsequently reduced to a maximum of 2 per cent annually. RPZs now encompass 83 per cent of all tenancies. Owners of properties in a RPZ being rented for the first time, or after two years' vacancy, can set a market rent but are then restricted to the percentage limit. Outside RPZs, rents can be set every two years to the market rate. Have they worked? Although too often ignored, the rules have mostly been successful, maintaining some affordability and keeping people housed. Have they reduced the supply of new properties for rent? Anti-rent regulation proponents are convinced they have. But although apartment development has slowed down, there is no concrete evidence this is due to rent controls. Similar trends of funds leaving the rental sector have been observed in other countries where there are fewer rent controls, so it's plausible that different factors have convinced investors to punt their cash elsewhere. Ignoring recommendations of the Housing Commission, the Government is now to keep the 2 per cent rent increase maximum for existing tenants, which is welcome. For new-build rental housing, increases will be linked annually to consumer price inflation. After March 1st, 2026, landlords of new ' tenancy arrangements ' will be allowed reset the rent to market rates at the end of every six-year tenancy. The entire country will now be an RPZ, effectively negating the concept. READ MORE Conor Pope takes a closer look at the newly announced rent reforms. Video: Dan Dennison These changes are linked to increased security of tenure from March 2026, which will mean landlords with more than three properties cannot evict a tenant except in limited circumstances, and smaller landlords can evict at any time due to some 'particular hardship' (examples given in the Government's press release include somebody facing bankruptcy, marriage breakdown or homelessness, but the concept is almost certainly open to abuse); for use by an immediate family member; and for sale at the end of a six-year tenancy. There are several likely impacts of the Government's plans. The first is that there will be multiple categories of renters: those with an existing pre-June 2022 tenancy who are currently vulnerable to being legally evicted for any reason after six years; those in an existing post-2022 tenancy; and those in a new-build rental property. This will create more 'rent insiders' and 'rent outsiders', who are generally younger people . Critically, the ability of landlords to reset rents to the market at every new tenancy arrangement should alarm tenants. In the last six years, average new market rents nationally have increased by 41 per cent (to €1,680), and by 31 per cent in Dublin (to €2,177). Many thousands of renters who have to move each year (say, for work or study) will get hammered by this provision, while other tenants are more likely to stay put. Inflation-linked rent rises are attractive when rates are low and economies booming, but not when inflation is high and economies and employment may be at risk. The new system will be so complicated vulnerable renters such as the elderly and those whose first language is not English are far more likely to experience exploitation. Already a challenge, enforcement will increasingly be an issue. Will new rent rules help or hurt tenants - or fix the housing crisis? Listen | 21:19 The Government will bring its latest housing fix to Cabinet today when it presents new rules on rent levels for at boosting supply – by encouraging large institutional investors to build and small landlords to stay in the market – the plan primarily concerns rules around Rent Pressure Zones (RPZ).Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon. These changes are all driven by one overarching aim: a desperate desire to attract the international investment the Government thinks it needs to increase rental supply and help resolve the housing crisis. If new rental supply is triggered by rent inflation, our rising rent problem is apparently going to be solved by allowing rents to rise. Flann O'Brien is now writing housing strategy. On Tuesday, Minister for Housing James Browne couldn't say when rents would fall on foot of these changes, hardly a ringing endorsement of his own policy. (Hint, Minister: no realistic amount of new supply will reverse the 100 per cent increase in rents in the last decade.) The Government also seems content to funnel a generation into long-term expensive renting, while simultaneously overseeing a commensurate decline in home ownership. As UCD professor Aidan Regan has said , for the first time ever this generation of young people may be poorer than its parents. These renters will be paying the pensions of comfortable, retired homeowning teachers in the US and elsewhere as they face years in housing – and wealth – oblivion. The Government is trying to expand a rental sector already twice as large as it should be, and for which there is little public desire compared to housing for sale. The Government is conveniently ignoring its own research which shows that 87 per cent of renters aged 25-49 want to be homeowners. Do we even need this international money? The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland has suggested the establishment of a specific private savings fund devoted to housing to allow citizens to invest some of the €143 billion sitting in low interest-paying deposit accounts. So too has Fianna Fáil's own Barry Andrews MEP. Such a fund should be used to build affordable housing for sale, the housing we need. This is also financially efficient: build, sell, recycle the money, go again. You don't need gazillions of international euro to build housing for sale. Better on security of tenure than affordability, the proposals to reform Ireland's imperfect but functioning rent control feels very much like a Government in panic. This impression is not helped by a mismanaged launch, including patchy performances in TV interviews and a botched press release, which had to be reissued a few hours later. By incentivising the rental industry, the Government is anxious to see house completion numbers increase quickly after last year's politically arrogant broken promises – but at the expense of a generation of aspirational homeowners. Once again Government is trying to control a market it can't. Only two things are certain beyond death and taxes: the private sector will not solve our housing problems and, barring global mayhem, rents are not coming down any time soon. Dr Lorcan Sirr is senior lecturer in housing at the Technological University Dublin
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
Chinese diplomats and Barbados ambassadors: Who have Irish MEPs been meeting?
The main cafe in the European Parliament in Brussels is a good politician-watching spot for journalists, lobbyists, and, likely, the occasional foreign spy. There is a steady flow of MEPs walking towards the parliament chamber nearby, or to some meeting. Advisers and other staff also regularly pass through, turning the row of tables and chairs into a wind tunnel of political gossip. For the price of a coffee, you can usually pick up a fair bit of information if you hang around chatting. I've yet to happen across one of the 14 Irish MEPs sitting down with any interesting characters here. That said, members of the European Parliament are required to publish a log of all the lobbyists, interest groups and other representatives they meet, so I don't have to camp out by the parliament cafe to see who has caught their ear. The ambassador of Barbados, Nicolla Simone Rudder, discussed relations between the Caribbean island and the EU with Fine Gael MEP Sean Kelly in Brussels last month Irish MEPs found time to chat to Chinese diplomats, associations of football supporters, tech and pharmaceutical lobbyists, and politicians from the disputed territory of Western Sahara, logs show. READ MORE The ambassador of Barbados, Nicolla Simone Rudder, discussed relations between the Caribbean island and the EU with long-time Fine Gael MEP Sean Kelly in Brussels last month. They mainly spoke about an EU law combating money laundering, said a spokesman for Kelly. Kelly had sit-downs with Facebook-owner Meta and the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) , entries you might expect to see in any Irish MEPs' diary. The IFA and other farming lobby groups appeared regularly in the meeting logs of most Irish representatives. Perhaps more unusual was a meeting Kelly had with the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums to talk about animal protection laws. Fine Gael's Regina Doherty met representatives from Twitter, Intel, banking firm JPMorgan Chase and payment app Revolut Many of Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews's meetings related to his role as head of the European Parliament's development committee. Logs show he met Irish aid charity association Dóchas, the World Bank, Oxfam, the Belgian development agency and Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares, among others. Fine Gael's Regina Doherty met representatives from Twitter, Intel, banking firm JPMorgan Chase and payment app Revolut, logs of her meetings show. Records show the European Football Supporters Association spoke to Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan to drum up support for its campaign to require stadiums to provide free drinking water during matches. Representatives of indigenous communities in Colombia, and politicians from Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, who claim sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, also raised their cause with Boylan. Records show Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Cowen met Chinese diplomat Wang Jin, who oversees parliamentary affairs, to talk about trade last December The Dublin MEP had a large number of meetings focusing on Israel's war in Gaza, including with the Palestine Red Crescent Society, Unicef and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees Unrwa. The diary of Independent Ireland MEP Ciaran Mullooly had a more local hue. The former broadcaster reported meeting organisations representing Irish fish producers and forestry owners, a Co Offaly group opposing a wind farm in Lemanaghan, Edenderry GAA club, a local development association from Kilcormac, Co Offaly, and officials in Roscommon County Council. Mullooly did log a meeting he had with Brussels-based diplomats from the Chinese government last year, to discuss dairy tariffs. Records show Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Cowen met Chinese diplomat Wang Jin, who oversees parliamentary affairs, to talk about trade last December. Cowen, who sits on the agriculture committee, said he was 'always open' to growing new markets for Irish farmers. 'From past experience, I've always found Chinese officials to be pragmatic and focused when it comes to trade and co-operation,' he said. The Irish Thoroughbred Breeders' Association, European Horse Network, and Horse Sport Ireland were among those hosted by Fine Gael MEP Nina Carberry, a former jockey and thoroughbred breeder. The pharmaceutical industry has been very active in the parliament, opposing EU reforms that would attach more conditions to the length of time companies can exclusively sell new medicines they develop, without competition from generic drugmakers. Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher was a regular port of call for pharma lobbyists, records show. Kelleher, whose electoral base in Cork hosts a lot of pharmaceutical firms, met representatives from Pfizer, Eli Lilly, MSD, Novo Nordisk, Johnson & Johnson and others. Fine Gael's Maria Walsh spoke about cyberbullying and online deepfake videos with TikTok and covered some of the same ground with Snapchat, logs show. Google, Amazon, chip giant Nvidia, and ChatGPT developers OpenAI, all met Independent MEP Michael McNamara from Ireland South As co-chairman of a parliament working group on artificial intelligence (AI) regulation, lots of tech companies have been knocking on Michael McNamara's door. Google, Amazon, chip giant Nvidia, and ChatGPT developers OpenAI, all met the Independent MEP from Ireland South. McNamara also reported meeting the ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to discuss the Central Asian country's trade with the EU. The former Clare TD said he had an interest in the region due to human rights and democratisation work he was involved in 20 years ago, when he was with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The only Irish MEP who had not published details of their meetings was Labour's Aodhán Ó Ríordáin. A spokesman said the omission was an administrative oversight that would soon be corrected.
Irish Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Undocumented Irish in US could be deported to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba
The undocumented Irish in the US could be deported to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba as Donald Trump's war on illegal immigrants intensifies, it's emerged. The cruel plans, which were first reported by the Washington Post, declared thousands of foreign nationals could be sent to the US military base in Cuba as early as this week. These include those from what are considered 'friendly European nations,' such as Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, and Turkey. The infamous facility came to international prominence after it began housing suspected terrorists along with others rounded up in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks - only a small handful remain. The harsh conditions inside the facility have been slammed by agencies such as Amnesty International. It has been described as a 'symbol of torture' where inmates face indefinite detention without charge or trial - specifically set up to get around US law. Former top New York Immigration lawyer Brian O'Dwyer, who also founded the Emerald Isle Immigration Center, believes the plan could actually happen. Speaking to the Irish Mirror, he said: 'Given this administration, absolutely. 'Most of the people who were originally put in Guantanamo Bay have either been sent back to their own country or some of them have actually died. There are not many of them left. 'It's a very small number. So there's this big facility; they could absolutely put a couple of hundred people in.' He continued: ''(Before the election) the Irish who were supporting Trump were saying 'he's going to deport the Latinos', we now know that there's no special category for Irish in the Trump administration. 'They're being treated like everybody else and that's very badly.' Mr O'Dwyer also said the current policy seems to move those detained to facilities located hours away from where they live. He explained: 'We've known that they've taken people who are ready to be deported and kept them in a number of different places in the United States. 'That's their kind of modus operandi. They take them away from their own home state and their own home support services. 'Somebody from New York City would be taken five hours away to a different detention facility.' The lawyer, who has since retired, said in all his years working on immigration cases, he has never seen anything like what's currently unfolding in the US. He continued: 'There have been times when people have cracked down on immigration; I understand that. 'But no one has ever come up with the deliberate cruelty that this administration has on human beings who are here in the United States without papers. 'This is a deliberate act of cruelty to discourage people.' Mr O'Dwyer said the Trump administration has been heaping pressure on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency known as ICE to ramp up detainees. He said this has led to law-abiding citizens who were undocumented being picked up instead of dangerous criminals. Mr O'Dwyer added: 'They are taking people who are basically complying with the law and filing their taxes and going to the immigration courts; they're the low-hanging fruit, and they're easy to pick off. 'Who they're really going after is law-abiding people who are doing their work, and that's the Irish.' He said undocumented members of the Irish community in New York are 'terrified.' He added: 'You're asking me all these questions and I wish I could give you the slightest glimmer of hope of anything and I can't. 'I've 50 years of experience in this, and I've never seen anything remotely close to this. 'I'd just ask everybody in the community that doesn't have regular status to keep their heads down, and hopefully, we get through it …we're going to do everything we can to help them.' According to the Washington Post, the plan, which could change, was devised as anti-immigration hard-liners inside Trump's inner circle pushed for more deportations and arrests of undocumented migrants. It is understood that preparations include screening for 9,000 people to decide whether they are healthy enough to be sent to the facility. The Washington Post reports that officials within the Trump administration believe the plan is necessary to free up capacity at domestic detention facilities. These have become overcrowded since he took office earlier this year.
