Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I also welcome his commitment to engaging with the Seanad committee on the scrutiny of statutory instruments. It is an important part of how we play our role in ensuring we not only look at the EU laws and directives coming through but also contribute to ensure we have the best laws and decisions coming out of Europe. It is an important part of accountability and engagement.

Others spoke about Europe's founding moment and the Schuman Declaration, which we will mark on Europe Day next week. That declaration and the founding of the European Union in its earliest form was, of course, about responding to the horrors of the Second World War, as was the United Nations, a similarly important multilateral project which also responded to the horrors of that war in its commitment in its charter is to protect future generations from the scourge of war. Similarly, in the context of the Schuman Declaration, there was a project of peace and commitment to the creative work for peace. The Schuman Declaration states, "The pooling of coal and steel production ... will change the destinies of those regions which have long been devoted to the manufacture of munitions of war, of which they have been the most constant victims." For perspective, the coal and steel project specifically recognised the danger that when we are involved in militarisation and the manufacture of munitions of war, in driving the engines of war, it is the citizens of European countries who suffer. We hurt ourselves. That is crucial because that message seems to have been somewhat forgotten in Europe at the moment.

The European Union was founded after the horrors of the Second World War but also after not just hundred but thousands of years in which Europe had been at war within itself. Countries in Europe fought and battled each other. Many countries in Europe engaged in the horrors of colonisation - countries with bloody histories and bloody records across the world, as well as conflict with their neighbours. That is why it was remarkable and wonderful that the European Union was founded, building peace between European nations, and that it also had such a strong focus on the idea that we should raise our values and standards collectively. That is what has brought a lot of the support in Ireland and across Europe for the European Union.I saw it when I took part in the Future of Europe project. Citizens from right across Europe said what they were proud of was when Europe was good. In many cases, however, the institutions of Europe said, “What we are hearing is you want a Europe that is strong." They are not exactly always mapped together in the same way. There are many ways to be strong, and the way that Europe has to be strong has to be a way that is also good. However, what we are seeing, sadly, is a shift away - I do not believe all is lost - and a moment when Europe is in danger of losing some of its credibility and some of its spirit when it comes to that bit about being good and protecting values.

We saw the credibility that was given because Europe raised environmental standards, workers' standards, women’s rights, equality and LGBT rights. However, we also saw an abandonment of much of the European social project during the period of austerity, when a very short-term focus on yearly financial returns led to the undermining of some of the core work of Europe in terms of building social cohesion and co-operation. A recognition of that came afterwards. Now, if you ask about austerity in Europe, nobody wants to talk about it. There is a recognition that mistakes were made. In that period when there was a recognition that mistakes were made, we saw co-operation in respect of Covid medication, which, unfortunately, did not extend to the global south. We saw an increase of waiving of some of the fiscal rules to ensure that societies’ basic health systems could function, for example. We saw initiatives such as the Future of Europe, which I participated in. We saw initiatives such as a very key set of legislation to ensure that corporations would be more accountable on their environmental and human rights standards and, through the Future of Europe, that citizens would be listened to. It was a signal to Europe, saying, "We know we made mistakes in austerity. We are going to listen to citizens now and we are going to hold corporations to a somewhat higher bar. We are back on the values train." That is now being abandoned again.

When we talk about competitiveness, let us be frank. Before 2008, Europe was on track for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. That agenda, project 2020, was put aside in favour of a short-term set of goals from then lead Commissioner Juncker which were all about short-term pay, pay, pay. That is why Europe lost ground and fell behind on technology and the environment. We had ten years when countries could not invest because they were paying off their quarterly returns in a short-termism that damaged Europe.

We are now about to make the same mistake but we are calling it “simplification”. Let us be clear. This simplification guts environmental standards. That is what is happening with the omnibus Bill. Bills we have worked on gut the supply chains on things like child labour and human rights and remove the obligation for climate strategies from very large companies. As we give out about Trump, we are chasing the deregulatory agenda. In fact, what Europe could and should be doing is something different, which is producing policies and investments that recognise the physical reality, which is that the world is diverse, human rights matter and we are facing a climate crisis. You cannot simplify away those realities. We should be having innovation and investment that makes us the leader in what the world actually needs, not simply in what corporations want.

Alongside that, we are also talking about cutting our social cohesion funding - the thing that knits us together - in order to put the money into defence. We are literally sabotaging peace and the building of peace in order to rush towards armaments manufacturing. When the Minister of State met with his Lithuanian counterpart, did he raise the fact that Lithuania decided to exit the cluster munition treaty? It is now saying that it will be on board with some of the worst weapons available in the world. That is a decision Lithuania made and I have asked repeatedly where Europe is in that regard, and where Ireland is as the key host of that ban. I was in Croke Park when we negotiated that global ban. What Ireland could be doing right now is reminding Europe that the work and investment in peace matters.