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TAOISEACH ENDA KENNY has travelled to Brussels for a special meeting of the European Council today.
Joining him is Dara Murphy, TD, Minister of State for European Affairs.
The main focus of the meeting between the EU leaders will be the election of the new President of the European Council and the appointing of the new High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is tipped to replace Herman Van Rompuy as President, while Federica Mogherini is a favourite to take over the foreign policy role.
A longer-shot is Denmark’s Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, probably best known for her selfie with Obama.
Ukraine
But the Heads of State and Government will also be meeting on external relations issues, including developments in Ukraine, the Middle East and the ebola virus in West Africa.
They are meeting for talks as accusations rain down on the Kremlin that Russian combat troops are fighting inside Ukraine, with fears growing that Europe may soon face a full-scale war on its eastern borders.
It has only been five weeks since EU states toughened their sanctions against Russia, but the EU is under pressure to once again up the stakes.
“Such behaviour cannot remain without consequences,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday amid the reports by NATO that “well over” a thousand Russian soldiers were waging war in Ukraine.
British Prime Minister David Cameron urged Russia to take a different path and if it did not, “then she should be in no doubt that there will be further consequences.”
Ukraine’s embattled government has openly asked the EU to help militarily, and the plea, which has virtually no chance of being satisfied, will be relayed to the summit by Romanian President Traian Basescu.
Last minute guest
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is a last-minute guest at today’s talks, invited to share the latest developments after one-on-one meetings with Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso and EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy.
Juncker calls for more women
The EU is effectively led by a trio and filling out the group is the already named Jean-Claude Juncker.
The former Luxemburg premier will replace Barroso and is in the process of filling posts for the next Commission with nominees provided by each member state.
Juncker’s main problem is the lack of women. Barroso’s outgoing Commission has nine women and so far governments have sent Juncker only four, including Mogherini.
Lawmakers in European parliament, who must ratify his choices, have warned they would oppose a college of European commissioners with fewer women than today.
- Additional reporting - © AFP, 2014
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O Christ I hate when Enda goes anywhere. As an Irishman he usually brings out a sense of shame in me anytime he opens his mouth!!!
Thank god Europe doesn’t see him the same way!
A sense of shame is a national character trait, along with begrudgery, catholic guilt and pessimism – sitting uncomfortably with a peculiar self-importance and superiority complex.
”election” my arse, picked in a back filled room based on who’s going to be the biggest wh–re to the army of lobbyists that cling around Brussels
Any chance they could keep him there?
There is, actually!
Only if they lost the receipt Kerry…otherwise they can return him within 30 days..
Tusk would be a decent appointment. His foreign minister, Sikorsky would be even better but is too Atlanticist and a bit too much of a Polish Leo Varadkar to get the job. So long as the post doesn’t go to that Italian, it’ll be grand.
Umm, a word about the democratic “deficit” present in this election. These heads of government have more of an electoral mandate than almost all MEPs, based on the frankly abysmal turnouts for European elections of late. Added to that, few European republics directly elected their own presidents. So calm down.
Well done on actually talking about the subject of the article Fergal.
The point on what I term competing democratic mandates is true. MEPs increasingly seek more power in the face of ever decreasing turnouts in elections primarily focused on national issues than European ones. Despite early figures suggesting otherwise, the last European elections had the lowest ever turnout.
So there really is an argument that Kenny (elected on 70% turnout), Merkel (elected on 71% turnout) and Hollande (elected on 80% turnout) do have more of a democratic mandate than MEPs elected on around 40% turnout.
Jurgen Habermas, the famous German Sociologist and Europhile wrote a excellent piece where he described Europe as now being Post-democratic as a result of the machinations in the EU.
That is what the EU’s friends are saying.
Flying Ryanair business class to save us some money I trust.
Why can’t the people elect the candidates to these top jobs?
Limerick people don’t want that idiot coming to Limerick.
Don’t tell me he is going to miss the Mayo attempt to beat Kerry? Does he not like the Gaelic Grounds either??
What on earth are you on about ‘Does he not like the Gaelic Grounds either??’? Do some research next time you jump on the “Down with Enda” bandwagon!
While any Irish politician with a brain would certainly be racing home for the GAA, Enda *may* have more pressing work to do in Brussels!
In fairness to Enda any politician that goes out of his way to be seen at a game of any kind needs to be beaten with a stick and any voter that is influenced by them going or not needs to be beaten around the head with an iron bar.
He’ll have to be back in limerick for the game this evening
God I hate those ‘Enda goes to…’ films too, they got so repetitive.
It’s the country Enda not the vegetable. ….you vegetable
Enda and Dara … a handy double to lead us on the front line of the European borders… .
have your say