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TAOISEACH ENDA KENNY, telecoms entrepreneur Mo Ibrahim, and Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn TD are among those addressing almost 300 European parliamentarians yesterday and today in Dublin Castle on fostering a forward and outward looking European Union.
It is a timely gathering, which comes at a defining chapter in the European Union’s history. The unprecedented economic and financial crisis of recent years has shaken the European Union to its core. As the instability in the Union has receded, the last number of months has seen the emergence of an important debate at European level and in the Member States regarding the future shape of the European Union.
The survival of the EU integration project depends on finding an answer to the question of democratic legitimacy. There is a case to be made, therefore, that national parliaments should have an enhanced role in shaping the future of the EU, particularly in underpinning the credibility of moves towards genuine Economic and Monetary Union.
The creation of this real economic union, which would include an annual European Semester process for economic policy coordination, presents both opportunities and challenges for national parliaments and parliamentarians. These steps mean that EU countries, and particularly euro area countries, will no longer be able to formulate conduct their economic policy in complete isolation from other EU countries. This process for enhanced budgetary surveillance also provides a valuable opportunity for Oireachtas Members, for instance, to feed into Irish national budgetary decisions in a more meaningful way than ever before.
Building on the gains conferred on them by the 2008 Lisbon Treaty, parliamentarians must also help to bridge the democratic deficit between Europe and its citizens in explaining and debating changes at European Union level with their constituents. With public trust in the Union declining across Member States we can play an indispensable role in better connecting the public to the EU.
While playing an ever more proactive role in EU oversight, parliaments in capitals across Europe, including in Dublin, will need a change of focus to rise to these new challenges.
The European Affairs Committee has hosted a national debate on Ireland’s role in an evolving European Union in recent months and among the issues we have considered is how Oireachtas Members can play a more meaningful role in shaping European legislation.
Irish politics, and our parliamentary system in particular, needs to be better equipped to track European legislation more efficiently, with too much time in the offices of Leinster House taken up with local concerns. Among the more provocative suggestions in our national debate was by RTÉ journalist Seán Whelan who ventured that our entire electoral system required reform to ensure our politicians had more time to spend working on complex legislation from Brussels requiring careful scrutiny.
Underpinning our discussions with our fellow parliamentarians in Dublin Castle is the need to foster a forward and outward looking European Union.
It is my firm belief that Irish and European citizens and civil society should be at the forefront of this debate. In that spirit, the conference will be addressed by three young Europeans from diverse backgrounds, each of whom will share their perspectives on the future of the European Union.
While the unprecedented economic crisis of recent years has prompted much introspective debate, the EU probably needs to be more assertive about its positive role in the wider world. Both as the world’s largest donor and through the successful accession of new Member States in the last decade, the European Union could and should be using its considerable soft power more proactively on its doorstep and further afield.
We are hosting sessions on development and enlargement with a view to progressing what have been among the European Union’s most effective policies. Informing our debate on these two topics will be leading thinker in international development Mo Ibrahim, and the High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina Valentin Inzko.
It was Bismarck who said that “the man who wishes to keep his respect for sausages and laws should not see how either is made”. A consistent criticism of European institutions is that too much business takes place behind closed doors, which is why all the proceedings were broadcast and webcast live.
By conducting all of these the proceedings in the open, we will provide the citizens we serve with a window into discussions and debates between European parliamentarians, as we seek to contribute to a European Union that delivers for people across its Member States and the wider world.
Chairman of the Irish EU Affairs Committee, Dominic Hanngan, TD. More information on the COSAC Conference can be found on www.parleu2013.ie.
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what we need is a Sovereign Independent state owned by the Irish People as envisaged in the 1916 proclamation
Hell ya !! We are up against a very dark and dangerous group of people…..unelected and anti-democratic
The minute the Irish government whoever they may be at the time start talking up the benifits of federal EU it will be time to dig up the muskets and pikes.
A Federal undemocratic EU is on the cards only a matter of when they feel the time is right. Very well funded organizations like the EFU have been planning it since 1948. First thing we will see is a change in the schools curriculm across europe. Here it will be regarding Irish history. They will need to de-nationalize the future generations and hide our history of revolt against such foreign control.
Of course FG are already openly pro Federalization.
Sorry UEF not EFU.
In fairness the rebels in 1916 were unelected.
In fairness, they would’ve been, if they had lived a bit longer.
In fairness, quite a few of the First Dáil were present during the rising of 1916 and managed to dodge the executions. So they were elected eventually.
The UEF was conceived by federalists like Altiero Spinelli who was against the creation of an elite lead EU and wanted a federalist Europe built upon by democracy after the destruction caused by the Second World War. It’s a NGO that puts pressure on politicians to put european issues more in the public eye.
Very few European Federalists support the current construct of the EU and place a high focus on democratisation.
Of course it’s people’s choice to disagree or agree but at least these groups are clear and open about their aims.
you are missing the point Barry , you are assuming people dont like the EU because of democratic issues within it , maybe people in Ireland just want to live in a Sovereign Independent Country in which they can elect a government to make Policies on their behalf alone within the geographic boundaries of the Island of Ireland , maybe they dont like the idea of a European Parliament making policies on behalf of 700 million people and imposing those policies on Ireland through their representatives in Dail Eireann.
And hence why I said people are free to disagree. These groups are in favour of a democratic federal union, in which people are free to decide to be a part of it or not. My answer was mainly in reference to the claim these groups support a non democratic means which is far from the truth.
It is people’s right to choose if they want to be part of such a union or a single geographical nation. Either way each side has the right to propose their beliefs to the people.
We don’t trust our own government never mind the EU.
No confidence in the government or the eu.
Wouldn’t trust any of them as far as I would throw them.
Don’t worry Dominic every time I look at my salary statement and see the extra costs I feel connected – unfortunately .
Sorry Dominic and to all your fellow euro quislings but I’m not connected to the EU at all, I detest everything about it and am not ashamed to say it.
I don’t ever want to be coerced into any more federalism just so the likes of you and other euro loyalists can wave your poxy union flag around and pump your chest out as you sing ode to joy.
Hehehe….. love it.
Jumping Jesus, Journal! Another exclusive with a Labour politician? How about changing the name to Pravda and have done with it?
Forget about Europe…they’re happy to the point of ecstasy to leave this country swing off the rope financially so it’s banks and bond holders got paid whatever the consequences. They’ve shown us in absolute detail what they think of us. There’s a total disconnect between Europe’s political elite and their mandarins so why should we care about them. I’d be in favour of leaving Europe in a gradual manner.
Even Merkle is having second thoughts about the direction that the EUSSR has taken.
“But lately, Chancellor Angela Merkel has applied the brakes to the process. Brussels, she believes, has become part of the problem.”
Der Spiegle
National governments are precisely the problem. This is the reason that so many roles of the EU are undemocratic: they aren’t chosen by the people, but by the national governments.
And that’s precisely why it won’t change. The national governments like it that way.
I am sick of the EU.
The deeper we get in the worse off we are.
Only those with the elongated snouts at the trough can feel connected. The majority don’t get a look in!
What you need is to renegotiate your relationship with the EU to make it more an alliance of like minded nations and less like its own federal republic.
I believe that’s what many British people would like to see.
Agree. We also need to have a serious discussion about membership of the EU and if it is now something we should reconsider.
Most Brits I’m one living in Dublin would agree I was pro Europe not eu but EEC (common market) now think worse thing ever how can an Italian mep know what’s right for Donegal does he even know where it is do Irish maps know where Bari is and anything about it do either care NO
I think we will be always closer to America and Britain due to our history with them than we will ever be with mainland europe.ireland needs to consider its future in the eu
With public trust in the EU non existent.
Fixed that headline for you.
this european union was never wanted ever ,it is doomed .Ireland has been literally invaded ,raped and pillaged .The game is up,to hell with this bogus eu .Its time to give ireland back to the irish ,our island is only the size of a poxy stamp
Well they’re doing a great job in this country of “creating an outward looking eu”,where is the exit please mr hannigan,the eu is not what I thought it was.maybe we could have a referendum,he he
It is too late! The EU has failed all expectations and it must be dissolved as soon as possible, it can not be sustained. The EU is sucking the life blood from Nation States, politically, economically and culturally, but this was the plan all along-some decent research proves this, it also proves who was behind the EU idea originally; it was the bankers, the plan was hatched just after WW2 by the Bilderberg group. The plan will come to fruition unless it is stopped, the EU is Communist in nature and the idea is to have the masses living in poverty through taxes and the oligarchs in Brussels living it up at our expense with their bankster buddies!
“Freedom to work and travel within the eu”. I,and several of my friends had travelled and worked right across Europe,never had any problems. If anything it was better then, because you could always get duty free goods. That was before we gained this newfound freedom! As Caroline says, there’s no reason why , if we had a decent government of our own, we could not do anything on your list.
Click on the link and sign the petition for an independent european body of inquiry to investigate banking scandal in Ireland copy link to friends and family if you want to help !
What has the EU ever actually done for us?
Besides clean beaches and rivers; cleaner air; lead free petrol; restrictions on landfill dumping; a recycling culture; cheaper mobile charges; improved consumer protection and food labelling; a ban on growth hormones and other harmful food additives; better product safety; single market competition bringing quality improvements and better industrial performance; break up of monopolies; Europe-wide patent and copyright protection; no paperwork or customs for exports throughout the single market; price transparency and removal of commission on currency exchanges across the eurozone; freedom to travel, live and work across Europe; funded opportunities for young people to undertake study or work placements abroad; access to European health services; labour protection and enhanced social welfare; smoke-free workplaces; equal pay legislation; holiday entitlement; the right not to work more than a 48-hour week without overtime; strongest wildlife protection in the world; improved animal welfare in food production; EU-funded research and industrial collaboration; EU representation in international forums; bloc EEA negotiation at the WTO; EU diplomatic efforts to uphold the nuclear non-proliferation treaty; European arrest warrant; cross border policing to combat human trafficking, arms and drug smuggling; counter terrorism intelligence; European civil and military co-operation in post-conflict zones in Europe and Africa; support for democracy and human rights across Europe and beyond; investment across Europe contributing to better living standards and educational, social and cultural capital.
But besides that what has the EU ever really done for us?
Ross, all that should be done by national government! What we need is independence, control of our own resources and a decent government-we don’t need the EU fascist superstate. Do the research Ross, don’t just parrot the propaganda!
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