Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the MEPs for joining us this morning and for the insights they have given so far, particularly on the pact on migration and asylum. As we know it has two elements to it, namely, a tightening of border controls and a new mandatory system for the sharing of the burden, so to speak. Some of the MEPs have spoke of the shortcomings of the pact and the gaping holes in it. There are a lot of objections to it so far. The Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary are very opposed to the concept of mandatory quotas and Hungary, Croatia, Greece and Malta also have problems with it. Thus it looks like it has a long way to go and there are a lot of issues to be addressed. I have no doubt that the Moria refugee camp fire will influence the debate and perhaps the actual publication of this document by the Commission. From what MEPs have said so far, Ireland's approach should be a humanitarian one. That is our tradition and I hope they will be pursuing that as the nuts and bolts of the pact are agreed.

I have a question on the rule of law. As the MEPs will know, the appointment of the President of the European Commission and of the Commission itself had to be approved by the European Parliament. Dr. von der Leyen had to do a lot of negotiation or, dare I say it, wheeling and dealing to get all that over the line and through the European Parliament. It is a fact that she renamed some of the posts to reflect the sensitivities. For example, the migration job changed from defending the European way of life to promoting it and I think that change was suggested to get more support for her candidacy. My question concerns Hungary and Poland.

Article 7 proceedings have been initiated and the MEPs have spoken about that and the threat to withhold EU funds. The facts are, however, that Hungary and Poland have influence within the European groupings, as Mr. Cuffe said, they have votes at the Council of Ministers and so forth. Is it not a fact that because of this, the political realities of the situation and the need to wheel and deal, to negotiate, to get issues on the agenda, to form alliances and so forth, nothing will really happen in respect of the rule of law in those two countries? I think Ms Clune suggested that the threat to withhold EU funds is deadlocked and has not got through the European Council. Perhaps she did not suggest that, in which case I am sorry. I am just very pessimistic that anything can be done or that anything will happen because of the size of Hungary and Poland and their influence within the groupings and the various institutions. I would be interested to hear the MEPs' views on this issue as it relates to the rule of law.