Fighting your, and Ireland’s cause in the EU labyrinth

AS with local representatives at county council and national level, there is now unprecedented access to our members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

This ranges from knowing what our MEPs are doing in Brussels to contacting them directly about European policies or laws, or with queries.

Anybody who thinks Europe is ‘over there’ need only consider Brexit and the upheaval it has caused. Every farming family in Cork, and Ireland, has been affected by Brexit, as has a very great many local businesses. In fact, Brexit has affected every single one of us in ways you mightn’t even notice, such as in the cost of the bread on your table.

Meanwhile, the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), international trade agreements, environmental policies and a wide variety of funding streams – such as LEADER, as an example – all bring the EU into our daily lives. So, too, do these bring our MEPs into our lives – knowing what they are doing, and being able to have our say in their work, is a very practical reality.

We elect MEPs as either independent candidates or as members of political parties. However, in the European Parliament MEPs generally become members of cross-European groupings.

The largest of these is the European People’s Party, or Christian Democrats, Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, Renew Europe Group, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance, Identity and Democracy Group, European Conservatives and Reformists Group, The Left group in the European Parliament - GUE/NGL. MEPs may also be ‘non-attached’.

When voting on new European laws or policies members generally vote with their party. However, most of the work is done beforehand in policy committees, and most MEPs sit on a number of these committees; for example the Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE), or the International Trade Committee (INTA).

MEPs tend to try and get on committees that most affect our national, and local, interests; a good example being the Agriculture Committee.

An experienced MEP will also have an extensive knowledge of how to access and do business with the EU institutions, which is a vast and hugely bureaucratic labyrinth. However, more and more Irish people – from individuals to businesses to community groups – have to deal with EU institutions for access to funding grants, EU licences etc etc. That’s where your local MEP can be invaluable, and where your MEP will generally be glad to help and advise.