Ireland must use its EU Presidency to put pressure on the bloc to course correct and restore its founding principles of respect for human rights and international law, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Patricia Stephenson.
Senator Stephenson said:
“The Government says Ireland’s EU Presidency will be defined by action on European competitiveness, values and security. However, how these themes are interpreted is crucial to the success of our tenure.
“To say the EU has drifted on some of its key values, such as its focus on upholding international law and human rights, is a gross understatement. In fact, those values have largely been abandoned when it comes to its inaction in the face of a continuing genocide in Gaza.
“The EU’s continued trade with Israel as it commits a genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people is shameful. Righting this wrong must be a priority for this government. At the very least, the government should work day and night to ensure that trade, in both goods and services, with the Occupied Territories ends, not just in Ireland but across the EU.
“In relation to the US’ aggressive weaponisation of the sanction regime against the International Criminal Court and UN Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, the Government must use the Presidency as an opportunity to defend international justice and work to introduce the EU Blocking Statute, which would protect EU citizens who are defending human rights from the impact of US sanctions.
“Ireland’s Presidency should see the EU return to its founding principles. We must reject the plan for EU deportation hubs which will strip children and families of fundamental protections and lead to arbitrary detention. We must also exert as much pressure as we can to stop EU officials entering into an agreement with the Taliban to deport Afghan asylum seekers back there, given that regime’s horrific human rights record.
“When discussing security, we must look at it holistically. We must consider climate security, food security and cyber security. The heatwave across the EU last week is not an aberration. It is going to be our new normal. We need to wake up to the reality of climate change and how that will damage stability across Europe, destroy food supply chains and cause devastation for farmers.
“It is incredible that the EU is planning to spend €800 billion on weapons and defence, when fractions of that sum are expected to be spent trying to address the existential threat we are facing – climate change.
“Energy shocks, and the multiple energy crises we have faced in recent years, are further reasons we need to double down on investing in renewable energy – and the EU needs to do much more to help member states roll out investment in renewables more easily and faster.
“A further threat to stability is the pervading cost of living crisis, which has also been turbo-charged by skyrocketing energy crises. This crisis is causing huge hardship across EU member states and is causing more people to become disengaged from politics, and turn to far right actors, because they feel they have been failed.
“Critically, as Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine has entered its fourth year, we must continue to show solidarity with Ukraine and ensure that companies based in the EU are not supporting Putin’s war effort. The government’s investigation into Aughinish Alumina must be completed quickly and alumina exports to Russia immediately stopped if the inquiry upholds existing reporting about huge levels of alumina produced in Ireland being used in Russian weapons.”
July 1st, 2026