Ahern calls for party to take positive stance towards EU

Debate on Europe: The outgoing Green MEP for Leinster Ms Nuala Ahern has called on the party to adopt a more positive stance…

Debate on Europe: The outgoing Green MEP for Leinster Ms Nuala Ahern has called on the party to adopt a more positive stance towards the EU.

Ms Ahern told delegates at the convention that she did not respect the "simplistic Eurosceptic agenda" and believed most in the party did not respect it either.

She said it was unrealistic for Greens to demand that the European Commission takes action on issues such as the nitrates directive "while denying that it needs to act effectively through a new constitution".

The Green Party's most prominent EU critic, the Dublin MEP Ms Patricia McKenna, made a speech shortly after Ms Ahern which did not address the the party's policy on Europe or the proposed EU constitution.

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The two MEPs have settled their public row over speaking time in the European Parliament, which saw them split along a fault-line that runs deep in the party.

In her pre-prepared speech, Ms McKenna criticised successive governments for failing to implement the nitrates directive.

After their No stance in the Nice referendum saw the party linked to campaigners with a hard anti-EU agenda, the Green Party leadership decided last year to let members decide whether to support a new EU constitution.

In one of the most public expressions of support for the EU in the party's internal debate on Europe, Ms Ahern said there was much that was positive in the draft constitution under discussion by EU governments.

Arthur Beesley

Arthur Beesley

Arthur Beesley is Current Affairs Editor of The Irish Times