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LAST UPDATE | 18 Jul 2024
THE MUCH-AWAITED VOTE in the European Parliament on whether Ursula von der Leyen should continue as President of the European Commission is taking place today.
The German ex-defence minister lay out her view of Europe to MEPs in Strasbourg. During her speech she discussed how their choice today will shape the Union’s work for the next five years or define their place on the global stage for the next fifty.
Von der Leyen has led the European Commission since 2019 but her leadership has come under particular focus since the breakout of the latest period of violence in the Middle East.
Following the deadly Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, von der Leyen had said that Israel would have Europe’s support in its actions “in the weeks ahead”, leading to criticism that she had given support to the Israeli bombing campaign which followed.
Speaking today, she – for the first time – called for a ceasefire between the Israeli Defence Forces and Hamas. She said too many children, women and men had died as a result of the conflict already.
She urged both sides to agree to a Two-State Solution, adding that it was the only way for Israel and Palestine to continue together in a peaceful future. “The bloodshed in Gaza must stop now,” she told MEPs.
Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan called out von der Leyen after her speech, accusing her of not committing enough to help the Palestinians and claimed the German politician was allowing Israel to breach international law.
“We are witnessing the most documented genocide in history. And still, there are no consequences for Israel,” she said to the candidate and other parliamentarians.
Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan calls out von der Leyen over her stance on Gaza.
— Muiris O’Cearbhaill (@muirisoc) July 18, 2024
“We are witnessing the most documented genocide in history. And still, there are no consequences for Israel,” she said. “Colleagues, today, say no to genocide and say no to Von der Leyen.” @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/jC00tn2RpD
“Colleagues, today, say no oto genocide and say no to von der Leyen,” Boylan concluded.
In her role, von der Leyen has also weathered several crises like the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine – and also faced many controversies.
Dealing a blow to von der Leyen a day before the vote yesterday, a top EU court ruled she failed to be transparent enough about coronavirus vaccine contracts.
In her 45-minute address to MEPs today, von der Leyen addressed the many challenges Europe faces over the next five years. At the centre of those challenges, is the ongoing war in Ukraine.
She denounced Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s recent trip to Putin in Moscow, which he said was a “peace mission”.
“This so-called peace mission, was nothing but an appeasement-mission,” Von der Leyen said, to much applause from the chamber of parliamentarians. “Only two days later, Putin’s jet aimed their missiles at a children’s hospital and a maternity ward,” she added.
“That strike was not a mistake. It was a message. A chilling message to all of us.”
She added that, if elected, she will make sure that Europe stands with Ukraine until there is peace in region.
Von der Leyen said that the future of Europe’s liberty is “at stake” as the war goes on in Ukraine and, therefore, she plans to introduce a “Union of Defence” during her second term.
She said that European spending on defence is “too low” and that, while not all member states will be comfortable with the idea, the Union of Defence will set out to create a secure European airspace.
She added that this plan was “not only to protect our airspace, but send a clear and common signal of unity”. Under the plan, von der Leyen also wants to double the staff in Europol, triple the European border security teams and enlarge their mandates.
Von der Leyen recognised that the European Parliament and member states must continue to implement the laws under the Asylum and Migration Pact – a robust reform of migration laws across Europe which was agreed in April this year.
The candidate said she wanted to make sure member states were implementing the laws in a fair way, and wants to continue work to make sure the EU has a “common approach on returns”, to make them “more effective and dignified”.
She said, if she is elected, she will appoint a commissioner for the Mediterranean, an area in Europe where a large number of people seeking asylum attempt to cross – and sometimes die in the body of water as a result.
Von der Leyen said the Mediterranean commissioner is needed as “the future of those two Mediterranean shores, is one of the same”.
The new, neo-fascist Europe of Sovereign Nations group accused the President of not doing enough on Migration and suggested that the Migration and Asylum Pact will not be enough to tackle the influx of people seeking asylum.
The German politician acknowledged that the economic situation of many Europeans as left them struggling under the current economy. Von der Leyen said the EU needs to be the centre of investments.
She said the continents markets are “too fragmented” and committed to the capital markets union – a plan which looks to make investing in Europe and seeking investments easier for citizens and businesses.
The plan has been on the Commission’s desks for five years – but it is understood that there was little haste to introduce the first steps, until now. Von der Leyen said that now is the time for the EU to use and leverage its “enormous wealth”.
Along with the Capital Markets Union, she also wants to introduce a European Investment and Savings Union, to “deepen” the internal market and develop a competitions policy that allows companies to scale up quickly.
“Europe must be the home of opportunity and investments,” she said.
Manon Aubry, French MEP and co-leader of The Left group said in response: “Climb down from your ivory tower and see the reality. We have the multinationals and billionaires who are driving up the prices in our shopping carts.”
She accused Von der Leyen of “strengthening” austerity rules.
Von der Leyen promised to create a Housing Commissioner position, if she is confirmed as Commission President. This intention has been welcomed by Fine Gael MEPs Regina Doherty and Seán Kelly.
Yesterday, Doherty said that she welcomed the discussion on housing to the European Parliament but told The Journal that she did not believe a Housing Commissioner was necessary.
She said: “People are struggling to find affordable homes. This is why – for the first time – I will appoint a Commissioner with a direct responsibility for Housing. And we will develop a European Affordable Housing Plan.”
Her supporters believe she will comfortably clinch the vote by secret ballot after holding weeks of negotiations with lawmakers to push them to back her.
Von der Leyen needs at least 361 votes in the 720-seat parliament, which is holding its first sitting in the French city of Strasbourg since EU-wide elections in June.
This will likely be von der Leyen’s only shot since her candidacy was already hotly debated by EU leaders in June.
If the 65-year-old fails to get a majority, the 27 leaders will be expected to put forward a new name.
Von der Leyen belongs to the biggest political group in the parliament, the conservative European People’s Party (EPP), which is in a centrist coalition with the Socialists and Democrats and the liberal Renew Europe groups.
In theory, that coalition has the numbers to get von der Leyen over the line.
The position of Ireland’s MEPs has been the subject of some debate, with only Fine Gael members declaring their intention to vote for von der Leyen.
Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews and Billy Kelleher have also announced that they will not be voting for her either. It is understood that the other two other Fianna Fáil MEPs, Barry Cowen and Cynthia Ní Murchú, will also not support the incumbent.
Sinn Féin’s two MEPs Kathleen Funchion and Lynn Boylan will also vote against von der Leyen with Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin also ruling out voting for her.
The vote will take place at 12pm (Irish time), with the results expected at 2pm.
With reporting by © AFP 2024 and Rónán Duffy
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Sean Gallagher…Brown envelopes…Memory loss…Fianna Fail. Is anyone truly surprised here?
It got him to admit it tho. Well done to whomever. Excellent stroke
I have been totally shocked by the support for Sean Gallagher and to be honest really disappointed by the countries amnesia. We kicked his party between the legs in the last election and should continue to do so as long as humanely possible after the disrespect and disregard his party showed the normal law abiding citizens of this country. Hopefully the country woke up a little after this debate and saw the politician and fianna fail politician that this guy is. Michael d all the way.
Gallagher should be out of the race after tonight’s car crash, but then this isn’t his first. The man blatantly changed his story when his bluff was called on the cheque. It says a lot about the mentality of a large swathe of Irish people that a FF shyster like him is even in with a shout of being elected as figurehead of the nation. People have learned absolutely nothing from the last few years it seems.
Indeed, but even more worrying is the fact that he is just a minor celeb with no qualifications whatsoever for this important role. Who the hell is he?
It was a Sinn Fein master stroke in PR & manipulating the live debate … so it was not Martin’s official twitter account but a Sinn Fein’s supporter account that led Pat Kenny to probe Sean more on this bagman allegation after it been aired earlier in the debate with Sean telling the listeners he knew nothing of the said allegation & that let Martin back in to the debate to remind the listeners that Sean had now given us two different accounts Sean looked rattled ….The Dragon was Slain …You just can’t trust those Shinners!!!
would it be fair to say that their trying every dirty trick in the book in a last bid to knock the front runner? it’ll be a cold day in hell before i through my vote away on that mc Guinness fella.
There are seven candidates in the election, why not use your vote to elect someone who’s not a crook?
Would take McGuinness over Gallagher any day of the week – at least there’s some possibly that Martín might shake things up, we know exactly what we’d be getting with Seánín: the same dirty old crony capitalism, gombeen politics that got us into this mess in the first place.
(fyi, won’t be voting for either)
My favorite part of the night was when SG was flailing and grasping at straws and said he remembered the man , but he is a crook and , and , and …. then Pat said if you knew all of this you still invited him to a FFail fund raiser ….Class!
Martin Mc Guinness is still my number 1 .
I’m relieved this happened, people may have short memories but to be fair to the majority of people, they weren’t putting the direct connection between gallagher and FF even though they knew he was a member. They just weren’t putting the two together because he wasn’t acting very fianna failish. Being caught red handed like that really brought it all out for everyone to see.
And using the word envelope, well that just topped it off!
You really couldnt make this stuff up … i would say every american tv show is going to pick this up and run with it .. it was one of those “you could hear a pin-drop’ moment that every TV station wants to get during a political debate.
SG is finally shown in his true light yet the hardcore FF are still blind and deaf.
Everything else aside, it says a lot about the RTÉ that they would read out such a tweet. Didn’t they check it with SF press office first?
Anyway, Pat Kenny tomorrow morning should be interesting, not to mention Matt Cooper later – Gallagher being on both
Class. where is Matt Cooper on ?
Matt Cooper is interviewing Sean Gallagher on ‘The last word’ radio program on Today FM (prgram runs from 4:30 to 6:30 ever weekday). It will be very interesting to see how he digs his way out of this one…. Well done Marty :) I hope Marty gets the chance to highlight about Mr Higgins taking of 3 state pasid salaries and pensions up to 2010 as well today. The people need to know who is getting what from our state funds.
Thanks Cal . I am Listening to him blunder and blust his way through Pat Kenny’s interview on radio.
Baldy Bertie got a hard time for doing a great job which was to collect as much money as possible – he proved he is a “CAN DO MAN”.
We need a candidate with pedigree not a bagman for Fianna Fail. Look what happened to the old bagmen.
His invitations to the dinner for developers looking for money tells us all we need to hear – we bailed out the banks and the developers so our tax money actually paid for the dinner and the tip for FF. now he wants us to pay him again and put a roof over his head. Xxxx xxx.
Do ye know what is a disgrace – that the islands voted today before Bruiser FF Gallagher shot himself in the foot.
It’s a disgrace in this day and age they have to vote 4 days before us. Maybe day before but 4 days??? Ridiculous.
With all them electronic voting machines gathering dust in cold storage tis a holy show altogether.
I was just talking to a Lithuanian friend of mine last night, and she told me that lithuania is bringing in some sort of system that will allow people to cast their vote on-line… If we could get something similar, then i think we would be onto a winner … ie allowing people in the North, the diaspora in every country around the world, with Irish passports, and even folks in the 26 counties to cast votes without having to leave their homes. It would definitely help with the voter apathy issue, ie i couldnt be bother leaving work, to drive down to a polling station, queing etc … We could copy this proposed Lithuaninan model???
Quality Trolling
It would be interesting to know if the debate actually changed the way people will vote or if minds are made up already.
You would think that Gallagher’s bid would be irreparably damaged after that performance. You would think. Do I remember him being booed?
yes he was booed
Booed by a handful of people on a show who were likely to have been terrorism supporters, sorry, SF supporters, or supporters of the other candidates. Hardly indicative of the mood of the nation. He didn’t handle it well at all but Jesus folks it is possible that he might have forgotten.
@Sean Armstrong grow up FFS Lapses of memory, the Irish people have had enough of that crap and as for calling the people who booed “possible terrorism supporters” is plain ignorant. Gallagher is just another slimy self centered opportunist who has been caught red handed before he could inflict anymore damage to this country.
delicious
The only thing though was that McGuinness seemed unsurprised by the content of the tweet so there seems to be some thing contrived about this tweet.
Anyway, Sinn Fein are worse. They go on with this dishonest behaviour of only taking an “average industrial wage” and then donate the taxpayers money to the SF coffers. This is scandalous behaviour – how many average industrial wage earners can afford to make a donation of this magnitude to a political party or cause of their choosing? None. If SF reps were honest they’d be returning the difference to the State. But then honesty isn’t what SF are made of.
Brian, Sinn Féin haven’t developed a network of patronage and corruption that’s basically crippled this county. Not saying that they wouldn’t, given time, but at the moment there’s no way you could say that they’re worse.
If McGuinness wants to donate a portion of his wages to the cause, let him at it – he’s still drawing an average industrial wage. Wouldn’t see many FF stalwarts even go that far.
More pertinent to the question at hand, if Seán Gallagher was honest, he would have run on a Fianna Fáil ticket. The worst part of his performance has been the cringeworthy retreats from each of his dishonest positions, exemplified tonight on the question of the cheque.
(fyi, not a Sinner by any stretch of the imagination)
Your right there Brian , MCGuinness was not surprised at all… The Sinn Fein operation to manipulate the debate was planned by a cell of operatives who single handed defeated the British Army here in Ireland but they needed a West Brit Pat Kenny on their side tonight …. the plan was to throw a curve ball at the RTE production team they took the bate and ran with the message in hand to Pat Kenny whom unbeknown to him he was now working for this cell in reading out a bogus tweet McGuinness master minded the whole plan it was in place & working & he was able to counter punch & deliver a body blow and knock out the dragon thanks to Pat whom now knows he was used as a pawn by the King no pun intended or should I really say the Castle McGuinness the operation was code named operational Qwl “To0 Weet Too Who”
Gallagher was exposed for what he is, a Fianna Fail fiddler. We all knew that. The question is; will it make any difference to the electorate. I guess not, as too many are rogue-tolerant. The only hope is that he will start to slip in the polls and the ‘herd’ mentality will gather momentum and shift support to another likely-to-win candidate.
Martin McGuinness will get my No1
A man who refuses to condemn the murder of an innocent mother of ten?
Just what I’d expect from a sewer rat like mcguinness I think Gallagher behaved in a dignified and presidential manner despite severe provocation. He is definitely getting my no1 anyway McGuinness & co would have lots 5k to throw around. It would have to be laundered first tho! Otherwise the northern bank might recognize it.
Gallagher behaved like a child who’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Is that you Micheal Martin?
Sewer rat haha
absolutely cmd
though sewer rat is far too polite to describe McGuinness
Firstly I would like to say I’m not really a fan of any of the candidates.
However if I had to choose between Mc G or SG I would choose SG.
Yes SG is associated with a party that totally screwed us but Mc G is associated with an organisation who have committed far worse crimes.
I do believe in 2nd chances but not when murder is involved.
Lisa, it need not be a choice between a corrupt bag man and a former IRA man there is always DANA the Christian Fundamentalist or even the labour poet MDH, but please not the stealth FF guy.
How many murders would you indirectly associate with FF decisions. Healthcare people die awaiting cancer treatment. increase in suicide. Increase in poverty. You have to give credit were it is due at least the gun has been replaced with a fake twitter account.
You’ll be happy to note that you don’t have to choose between those two then. There are seven candidates in the race. You’ll find one from the remaining five who hasn’t been associated with “an organisation who have committed far worse crimes” or a collector of brown envelopes.
Lisa I agree 100%, the thing that scares me is the amount of scumbags hitting the red thumbs on your comment. Anyone that supports MMG has serious moral issues and anyone that doesnt mind having the front page of every page around Europe “Ireland elects terrorist as president”. This Person is supposed to represent the Irish people abroad, this would be a total disaster..!! He’s a scumbag plain and simple…
What a slimy little slug that Gallagher is, the last thing that this country needs is the brown envelope culture in the Aras. The guy is up to his neck in the Celtic Tiger worst practices in other words a failure on all fronts.
Well, following that show I’ve decided to give it to MMG. I think it would be interesting and fitting to see a Sinn Fein president for the 100 anniversary of 1916. We don’t appreciate the founders of this state enough. In America the founding fathers are revered for the sacrifices they made in rebelling against the forces of the crown.
Ballyer, all of the present political parties – with the exception of Labour, which were already up and running – descend from the Sinn Fein of 1918. Sinn Fein however had no involement in 1916. So why is it that we should have a SF President in 1916? MMG in any case does not represent the Sinn Fein of that era – no one does. He represents the SF that’s being on the go since 1969.
Adrian; I think it is very appropriate for M mc G to be President .
@Adrian, SF as they are now, have not been on the go since 1969 either … read your history books… ;)
Susan, can you change the report to reflect the facts. Sean Gallagher stated the money was not paid into his personal account, thats incorrect! They were paid into a WRONG business account. Many businesses have more than 1 account – one for retail, trade, foreign business, vat, miscellaneous etc. It was put into the WRONG business account and once identified, was rectified. Its not like the money was taken out, spent or wasted. It was an accounting exercise merely and to paint it in any other light is tabloid journalism! Thanks
…’it was only resting in my account’…
It was resting in one account or the other, right?
While I’m at it, just wondering whether you can account for the €25k odd that your man’s company received from Louth County Enterprise Board … while he was working for that board? Maybe it wasn’t strictly illegal, but doesn’t it seem a bit improper to you?
Certainly smells a lot like crony capitalism to me.
how can mcguinness be president when he can’t even vote here ??
THe same way Mary Mc Aleese is . Irish born !That’s how .
Mary Mc A ,seeing as you so obviously don’t know was born and reared in Belfast !
Avril, were you the woman in the audience last night that asked Martin the same question? Honestly, on Politics.ie FG commentators, FF commentators, Labour commentators all said she was bang out of order.
Thats Ireland for you
Unbelievable !
the question should be why is MMcG allowed to stand when he’s an ex-convict
Because McGuinness, if elected, would become our first ex-con Head of State?
Because McGuinness, if elected, would become our first ex-con Head of State?
think dev might have beat him to that distinction
That was kinda the point, Martin.
vote no 1 martin mc guinness excellent stroke
Think it was a hugely tactical move on the part of the shinners perfectly timed for maximum effect. Delighted the truths are coming out about SG but as I’ve said before MMG has a neck on him standing there demanding answers from anybody when he was confronted by relatives of deceased members of Ireland’s security forces to answer questions. He is a man of authority in Sinn Fein and even though the IRA have purported to have disbanded I’m sure he has the contacts to get information relating to a huge amount of deaths during the troubles. Did you ever see such a sly grin in all your life when he caught Gallagher out… Think he is sly underhand and devious… A leopard cannot change its spots… Or is he more of a snake in the grass…
First I saw of this claim that SF were to ‘roll out’ the source of this story tomorrow was from this tweet http://twitter.com/#!/davidcochrane/status/128583525040529409 , which is clearly based on a separate source from the unofficial twitter account that this story is about. Will be interesting if SF do ‘produce the goods’ tomorrow.
Really looking forward to tomorrow, the race just got interesting…
I would love to just say that if I did something wrong just say I had “no recollection” of it.
What I find absolutely amazing about this whole debate is the focus on Sean Gallagher. Is no one shocked and dismayed by the refusal of Martin McGuinness to condemn the ruthless murder of Jean McConville, the mother of ten children who was dragged out of her house and shot in the head? Her innocent children’s lives were shattered and McGuinness still can’t bring himself to admit that it was cold-blooded murder. Horrific!
Maria, you should read Brendan Hughes’ account of Jean McConville , he being the man Ed Maloney et al love to use as a stick to beat Gerry Adams.
If you are prepared to believe all the mud that is thrown at Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness then you have to believe the totality of the story behind that action.
The focus is on Gallagher because he somehow managed to become a frontrunner. Martín was never really a contender, due to the baggage.
Think the attempts to distract attention from Seanín’s collapse by pointing and shouting at McGuinness tell their own story.
While I was happy to see that Fianna Fáiler Gallagher be made to reveal his true colours, I thought it was ironic that he was made to squirm by Martin McGuinness and his supporters (that twitter account) alleging things about him calling to to people’s houses. It was calling to people’s houses, by McGuinness, which led to the death of Frank Hegarty, according to this article:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/0929/1224304933953.html
Ah well, I suppose when McGuinness is concerned, past actions are totally irrelevant when it comes to his own misdeeds; that level of scrutiny should only be applied to his opponents.
well said James.
Yet another thing that the terrorist benefits from but knows nothing about like all the murders, bank robberies, kneecappings.
Same old same old.
never said id vote for gallagher either. bloody eejits pressing thumbs down. have a bloody field day at this comment!
How could anybody possibly consider voting for Gallagher? Think about it – who the hell is he? He is basically no more than a minor celeb with no more than average small business experience (as Pat Kenny said last night: he makes much of his entrepreneurial experience, but was in fact just a small businessman). Any president is going to raise the profile of Ireland abroad and seek to bring investment here – he has no more credentials than anybody else to do that – in fact you could say other candidates do have experience on the international level. He has never been a TD or even a councillor, has strong connections with the Fianna Fail party at the level of fundraising for head office (not just at the local grassroots), and now it is being said that just three years ago he invited that crook to a fundraiser, went to his house after with photos of the event and may well have taken an envelope from him with a cheque for €5,000. He had to be put under pressure of being exposed before finally admitting this. And who could really believe that he was not aware of what was in that envelope and that he was not aware of that man’s criminal activities, because they were well known at the time. It is frightening that this man could be considered for this office – ask yourself what relevant experience or record of public service that was not self-serving this man really has?
That cheque for €80k which was honestly mistakenly lodged into a wrong bank account was probably lodged into a personal account for SG as his accountant classified it as a director’s loan. As banks can only credit the account to which the cheque is payable this begs the question who and why was a cheque for such a large amount made out to SG personally.
i tought we had had left the brown envelope behind us; not so sure about it now , Sean rembers the envelope but not what was in it. Are we going back to this sh1t again. Please not did we n ot vote for change the last time
have your say