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Von der Leyen elected: How Ireland's MEPs voted

Updated / Thursday, 18 Jul 2024 20:40
The four Fine Gael MEPs are the only MEPs expected to have supported President von der Leyen
The four Fine Gael MEPs are the only MEPs expected to have supported President von der Leyen

As many as ten Irish MEPs voted against electing Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as European Commission President.

Ms von der Leyen was elected as president with 401 votes in her favour and 284 against in the 720-member chamber.

While the vote was conducted using a secret ballot, many Irish MEPs took the opportunity to reveal their voting intentions in the lead up to the vote.

Sinn Féin's two MEPs, Lynn Boylan and Kathleen Funchion, both voted against Ms von der Leyen.

Ms Boylan spoke against the president's candidacy in a debate ahead of the vote in Strasbourg.

"When you declared Europe stands with Israel, when you stood shoulder to shoulder with Netanyahu, you greenlighted this genocide. The double standards, the hypocrisy with how you reacted to the conflict in Ukraine compared to Gaza has done untold damage on the world stage to the European Union," she said, addressing Ms von der Leyen.

Speaking to RTÉ's Drivetime, Ms Boylan said the European Court of Justice ruled against Ms von der Leyen in terms of transparency on Covid-19 contracts.

"That was the second red card against her," she said.

MEP for Midlands-North West Luke 'Ming’ Flanagan voted against the president’s re-election.

Mr Flanagan told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that Europe was not moving fast enough on the issue of Gaza, and if people cared about the reputation of EU, they would not put "this monster back in as president of the European Commission".

Mr Flanagan posted a photo of his ballot to social media platform X.

Responding to Mr Flanagan, Labour MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin also posted to X to show his rejection of Ms von der Leyen.

Independent Ireland MEP for Midlands North-West Ciaran Mullooly said he voted against Ms von der Leyen.

He said he spoke with the president last night, about issues like her reaction to the conflict in Gaza, and her failures.

He said while she did call for a ceasefire in an address to Strasbourg, she did not go any further than that, and for that reason he voted against her.

Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Mr Mullooly said many MEPs voted for Ms von der Leyen because they wanted stability in Brussels.

Three of Fianna Fáil's four MEPs said they would vote against Ms von der Leyen.

This is despite the Renew group, the European political group to which Fianna Fáil is aligned, confirming the group would support Ms von der Leyen in her re-election bid.

Speaking to RTÉ's Morning Ireland, MEP for Ireland South Billy Kelleher said he would vote against the president, saying the EU has not been an "honest broker" when it came to the issue of Israeli brutality.

Dublin MEP Barry Andrews echoed Mr Kelleher’s views saying "we have to take seriously that President von der Leyen has given comfort to Netanyahu consistently since 7 October".

Speaking to RTÉ's Drivetime, Mr Andrews confirmed he voted against Ms von der Leyen but said there were "a lot of positive things in her speech".

He added that he met the president last week and put questions to her about sanctions and the EU-Israel trade agreement, but got "no satisfaction" on any of these matters.

Many Irish MEPs voiced concerns about the EU response to Gaza

MEP for Ireland South Barry Cowen insisted that not voting for Ms von der Leyen was "very much part of the mandate my candidacy achieved" when elected.

MEP for Ireland South Cynthia Ní Mhurchú did not publicly express her voting intentions in the lead up to the vote.

Independent MEP Michael McNamara has not revealed which way he voted.

However, the MEP for Ireland South expressed in the European election campaign that he would not support Ms von der Leyen’s election.

Fine Gael MEPs show support for president, criticise Fianna Fáil

All four Fine Gael MEPs are expected to have voted in favour of the sitting president.

MEP for Dublin Regina Doherty and MEP for Ireland South Seán Kelly both criticised Fianna Fáil for voting against Ms von der Leyen.

"They've decided unilaterally to vote against their own party leader Micheál Martin, to vote against their Commissioner, Michael McGrath, and to vote against their party, Renew," Ms Doherty said.

Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week, Mr Kelly said it would be "extremely shortsighted" and "irresponsible" of Fianna Fáil to vote against the president.

He added that Fianna Fáil were taking one issue and not looking at Ms von der Leyen’s "great work in the last five years".

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