Fine Gael MEP candidate says he will back Ursula von der Leyen for second term
Michael Bolton
A Fine Gael MEP candidate says he will vote for Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as European Commissioner despite her stance on Israel's action in Palestine.
John Mullins, who is running in the Ireland South constituency, says despite criticism of Ms von der Leyen, he will back her for a second term should he be elected.
Speaking to BreakingNews.ie, Mr Mullins said Ms von der Leyen's track record on Brexit will be a big reason why he would vote for her.
"I will vote for her because, on balance, she has done a very good job as president. She supported this country when we were going through the Brexit negotiations.
"We got a lot of support from von der Leyen on this. Her performance during Covid was exemplary as well, in my view.
"We need to understand that there are different attitudes towards Israel across Europe. We need to understand the history of Europe to understand why those attitudes are different.
"Since that visit to Israel, I think she has pulled back from that particular position. Certainly going forward, that she would lead going forward on putting sanctions on Israel for what they are doing."
In the week Ireland recognised the State of Palestine, the world was horrified by footage from Rafah, as dozens of innocent people were killed by strikes by Israel.
Rafah, the southernmost Gaza City on the border with Egypt, has housed more than a million people — about half of Gaza’s population — displaced from other parts of the territory.
With over 36,000 people killed since the start of October, Mr Mullins called on the EU to stop trading of arms with Israel and increase pressure for a ceasefire.
"We need to stop shipping armaments from the European Union into Israel. If you stop the supply, they will have no choice but to move towards a ceasefire.
"They are not listening to the diplomacy on this, either from the United States or Europe at this point in time. What has happened in the last week has been horrific.
"There have been a number of mistakes by the way, but there has been nearly 40,000 mistakes. We need to start thinking about serious sanctions."
Fine Gael is part of the EPP party in the European Parliament, which will back Ms von der Leyen for a second term.
In the build up to the election, she has been accused of aligning closer to the far-right along with the party. With their rise across Europe a concern, Mr Mullins says the rise of the far-right should not be encouraged.
"I would have real difficulty if the EPP was in some sort of alliance with the far-right. In that context, I would certainly vote against that alliance.
"I think that we in Fine Gael need to take a view what arrangements are made. We would prefer if there are arrangements made with other groups, for example, in the centre of the European Parliament rather than aiding far-right groups across Europe.
"As far as I am concerned, they are not good for society."
Immigration has become a major talking point in the lead up to the European elections, with tents once again moved from the Grand Canal for asylum seekers.
There have also been checks by gardaí on asylum seekers coming from Northern Ireland, with gardaí returning people to the UK who have entered the Republic illegally and have not claimed international protection.
Mr Mullins says there must be co-operation between both the gardaí and PSNI, while more must be done by the Government to speed up the process for those seeking asylum.
"We have to make sure that we limit the numbers that come across from the North, but more importantly, we need to process the numbers that are here, so that they either stay because they are given full rights as a refugee, or they are removed from that staus because they come from a safe country.
"The reality is that this is an issue that is not going away. We have to make sure we start by having appropriate state accomodation, we have to make sure the tents do not continue in Dublin.
"We fought very hard to keep the 500km border between lough Foyle and Carlingford open, and the reality is that as long as the UK is threatening Rwanda on refugees, we can expect people to keep coming across.
"It will be up to the people at Belfast port, and that is where the majority are coming in, to do random checks or not, but that is a matter for the North.
"It would be useful if that was the case, but I think there would be quite a level of political sensitivity around that."
This election will be a first for the party with Simon Harris as leader.
After a referendum that did not go the Government's way, a 2021 by-election which saw the party lose a seat and losses in the 2020 General Election, the party needs a successful local and General Election.
Mr Mullins claims the reaction to Mr Harris has been positive during campaigning, and expects a positive result for the party at local and European level.
"For me, he has done a very good job up front. He has been very clear in terms of what he wants to get done.
"The reaction on the streets has been extremely positive. The outcome of the election will be looked at in the round, but if you look at what we have seen in the polls, there has been an increase for Fine Gael.
"The expectation on the ground is that we will do well."