Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is important to remind ourselves the competency for foreign policy at the European Union is at the European Council level. Each state has a veto and Ursula von der Leyen's actions were in clear and direct contravention of that fact. Of course there are different views, and everybody accepts that, but there are not different international laws. There is a single international law and Israel is in grave violation of it. Ursula von der Leyen has yet to call out Israel for that. My fear is that Ursula von der Leyen will get a second term. The European People's Party, EPP, of which Fine Gael is a member, is set to endorse her as the candidate this week. That means nothing, by the way. Manfred Weber was the EPP candidate five years ago and Ursula von der Leyen was part of manoeuvres to undo the Spitzenkandidat process. To ensure we are not isolated at the end of a process, what is needed now is for countries that value international law and have been consistent in demanding adherence to it, as Ireland has, to say clearly that Ursula von der Leyen is not the person to be the face of the European Union in the current circumstances.

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