Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns has expressed disappointment at the re-election of Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe outcome of today\u2019s vote represents a missed opportunity by MEPs to restore some credibility to the EU, which has been badly damaged on the world stage by its callous indifference to the continuing genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should never be forgotten that Ms von der Leyen gave the EU\u2019s unqualified support for Israel\u2019s war crimes at the beginning of this conflict, which has since claimed more than 38,000 Palestinian lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven that Ms von der Leyen had no authority to usurp member states\u2019 foreign policies, her comments amounted to an egregious overreach of her position.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer re-election as Commission President means we can expect little or no meaningful action by the EU against Israel for its genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt must also be remembered that when former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar wrote to Ms von der Leyen seeking a review of the EU-Israel trade agreement, she didn\u2019t even reply to his letter. That alone speaks volumes about where her loyalties lie.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Irish Government\u2019s support for a second term for Ursula von der Leyen is completely at odds with its strong words of condemnation of Israel\u2019s brutal military assault in Gaza \u2013 and Ireland\u2019s official recognition of the State of Palestine.<\/p>\n
“Fine Gael MEPs voted for and defended the reappointment of von der Leyen, despite her utter failure to act in the face of genocide. This is in stark contrast with rhetoric on Gaza from Fine Gael.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile Fianna F\u00e1il MEPs had indicated they would not vote for her today, it is notable that this was not the position of their own party leader, who seemed more concerned about the status of Michael McGrath\u2019s Commissioner role than the damage caused to the EU\u2019s reputation by Ms von der Leyen\u2019s support for Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
July 18, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns has expressed disappointment at the re-election of Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission. \u201cThe outcome of today\u2019s vote represents a missed opportunity by MEPs to restore some credibility to the EU, which has been badly damaged on the world stage by its callous indifference to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2779,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[408,529,400,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foreign-affairs","category-gaza","category-holly-cairns","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n