Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Seán Crowe TD, has discussed the last European Council meeting with the Taoiseach in the Dáil and raised the issues of climate change, structural voting changes due to the Lisbon Treaty, and Europe’s response to Ebola.
Deputy Seán Crowe said:
“The last European Council extensively discussed the EU’s Climate and Energy Policy Framework, but they showed a severe lack of ambition.
“While the Council committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030, this is only a first step, and sadly it agreed to water down energy efficiency and renewables targets to 27%, by 2030, neither of which are binding at a national level.
“Also worrying was the fact that a special “flexibility clause” was added to the final text, which allows the Council to return and edit the targets after the UN climate summit in Paris in December 2015.
Crowe continued:
“November 1st also marked the entrance of new voting rules into the Council, which were brought in under provisions of the Lisbon Treaty. The new voting system in the Council, where key decisions are made, are now be on a straight population basis.
“This means that Ireland’s voting weight has reduced from 2% to 0.8%, while Germany’s has doubled from 8% to 16%. France, Italy and Britain have also moved from their 8% each to 12%.
“This means that power has shifted away from small and medium sized states to the bigger elites.
“While Sinn Féin, and many others, called for a no vote in the Lisbon Treaty and pointing out that it would increase the democratic deficit and reduce Ireland’s influence and voting powers, Labour, Fine Gael, and Fianna Fáil, were promising jobs. We have yet to see the promised jobs, and now see a reduction in our voting power. Is it any wonder that the Government neglected to mark this occasion?
“I also raised my legitimate concerns over Ebola and how it is hugely impacting on the economic and agricultural life of the affected countries. More needs to be done by the European Union to tackle the increased food insecurity, which could lead to famine, in the Ebola effected countries.”
ENDS