Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. The conclusions of the European Council meeting in my view highlight the fact that the European Union seems to be going very badly wrong. We might look at the communiqué and conclusions with regard to Ukraine, highlighting Russian aggression. The amount of damage the European Union has inflicted upon itself to punish Russia, or to seek to punish Russia, has been enormous, not just in Ireland but elsewhere across the European Union. It may well be that that is all worthwhile, and the position of the European Union is that we absolutely need to do this to highlight how important international law is and how seriously we take international law.

That is a coherent position to take but then one moves forward a little in the conclusions and looks at what is said about the Middle East. There is very little mention of international law and no condemnation of the killing of civilians and the targeting of civilian infrastructure. That sort of duplicity simply undermines the EU's response, not just to the Ukrainian war but its international position on every conflict across the world, and it is losing credibility. We were clapping like seals in here when Ursula von der Leyen came. The woman is a warmonger. She was a warmonger then and she is a warmonger now. She is interested in selling arms. Israel is a great place to sell arms, as is the Middle East generally. Do not get me wrong, it is not just western firms that want to sell their arms there. There is the Iranian arms industry and the armaments industry across the world. The Middle East is a great theatre in which to sell them, be that to Hezbollah or any of the various security forces in the region. They are all good customers.

There is this claptrap about international law. We are reaching a nadir in respect for international law under this President of the Commission and this European Council and that needs to be highlighted. People can spot hypocrisy when they see it. We have people in this House calling on the one hand for Ukrainians to go home while, on the other, saying Ukraine should join the EU. Which is it? If Ukraine joins the EU Ukrainian people will be going nowhere because they will then have the same right to live here as all EU citizens have. I question the latest decision, which is not part of the European Council's conclusion but is part of the conclusions of the Commission, led by a warmonger, that accession negotiations should begin for Ukraine. We are talking about one of the most corrupt countries on the face of the planet. Are we seriously to believe that a country that was corrupt in 2019 has suddenly cleansed itself of all corruption while fighting a war on its eastern flank? With what state of Ukraine will we enter into accession negotiations? This is all about Ukraine's desire to join NATO of course. I understand, however, that to join either NATO or the EU a country needs to have agreed borders.

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