Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is paramount that the people of Europe should be involved in the discussion about the future of Europe. This needs to be an honest discussion about the failures and successes of the European Union. Constructive criticism is needed to make the EU work better. This is not, and should not be seen, as a question of being in or out of the EU. Ireland's place is clearly within the EU. That does not mean, however, that we cannot and should not work to make it better, fairer and more democratic. Sinn Féin has many reasons for insisting on this. The broadly positive aspect is the support of the EU, and its firm opposition to any attempt by the British Government, as it exits the EU, to impose a hard border in this country. The other aspect is this State’s experience of the financial crisis.

That crisis was a severe blow to the idea of solidarity between member states and the peoples of Europe. Weaker, smaller, peripheral states paid the highest price. That includes the people of this State and the people of Greece. Austerity imposed by the EU had devastating consequences in this State and in Greece, where public services disintegrated under the burden. This cannot be allowed to happen again. To ensure it does not happen again, we believe the EU should work for the people of the EU, and not for the EU insiders, corporate interests or established political parties from the larger states. The discussion on the future of the EU has been overshadowed by Brexit. For lreland, the dangers posed by Brexit are real and immediate.

Brexit would be problematic for this country under any circumstances. Britain is our largest trading partner and it stands between us and the rest of Europe. All the challenges Brexit presents are multiplied by the fact that our country is partitioned. We face the prospect of having one part of the country in the EU, while the other is dragged out of it against its democratic wishes. There can be no hardening of the Border in Ireland and Irish citizens in the North cannot be abandoned. Border communities, which suffered so much due to partition, will not put up with being divided by a hard border. The EU is, of course, playing a crucial role in ensuring that there is no hard border and that all of Ireland remains inside the EU when Britain leaves. The EU will also play an important role in the event of a united Ireland by ensuring that the inclusion of the Six Counties is guaranteed within the Union.

We were always facing the question, however, of how to make the EU a more democratic and people-centred institution. Sinn Féin believes there should be a fairer distribution of Structural Funds and CAP payments and more support for important infrastructure projects. We oppose proposals, such as the vulture funds directive, that would reinforce the free rein of the banks and vulture funds and tilt the balance even further from Irish mortgage holders. We are opposed to the EU aggressive, so-called new generation, trade deals, such as Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP. Those deals threaten to undermine environmental ambition, public services, workers' pay and conditions, financial stability and our agricultural sector. Sinn Féin is also opposed to the policies of the ECB and the European Commission, Europe's unelected government, when they refuse to adopt the needs of vulnerable states and regions. We are also opposed to increased military spending and the creation of an EU army. There is no support for that in Ireland and it would violate the Constitution and the State's commitment to neutrality.

Our criticism of the EU is consistent and constructive. Fundamental change is needed and the status quois not good enough. It is not working for the people of Europe. We want an EU that supports progressive social and economic change. We want an EU that listens to the concerns of the people of Europe who are increasingly alienated from a project that often does not deliver for them. In 1973, this State joined the European Economic Community, EEC, which was essentially a free trade organisation. Today, the EU is a political union and its leaders aspire to be a federal state with a common currency, tax raising powers and an army. The EU is arrogant and bureaucratic. Lobbying and the influence of corporate interests, which feed off of EU institutions, are a major problem. We need to recognise that people across Europe are rejecting that model that has created winners and losers, precarious employment, wealth inequality, including inequality between core and peripheral areas, debt dependent growth and privatised public services.

Failure to recognise this will pose a threat to the EU. It holds itself up as a project of peace and a defender of human rights. There are, however, serious questions to answer regarding its treatment of refugees fleeing wars, the situation of political prisoners on our territories and complicity in abuses elsewhere due to economic and political ties. Across the EU, people want decisions affecting them made as close to home as possible in order that they can have influence on policies that affect their lives. We have one of the most centralised systems in this country. There will be a requirement for a transfer of powers back from the EU to member states, including the power to make decisions about public spending and priorities. The types of changes needed include enshrining social and employment rights in law, returning fiscal powers to member states and ensuring that states can maintain their own foreign policy. This will require changes to EU treaties.

There are two visions for the future of EU. One is for an increasingly integrated and federal EU empowering corporations and disempowering citizens; the other is for a social EU that puts people first and requires a complete change of direction. Brussels will have to be democratised. We cannot have winners and losers. The failed economic models must change and the privatisation agenda, in particular, must change. The EU must be radically reformed to become a union of nation states committed to working together for progressive social and economic change. The EU should be working together on common issues such as taking ambitious action on climate change, advancing social and employment rights across all of Europe, building systems of fair trade and using our common strengths to improve the lives of citizens.

We should learn from the mistakes made where the concentration of economic and political power in the hands of the larger and more powerful states led to a reaction from people across the EU, and some of this was behind the Brexit decision.It is also evident in the growth of right-wing groups and organisations. We need a social Europe that will guarantee that the people of the EU and their institutions are of one mind and will strengthen the European project.