The Labour party aims to increase its number of MEPs from one to four in the forthcoming European Parliament elections, party leader Eamon Gilmore said today.
Unveiling the Labour Party candidates for the June 5th poll, Mr Gilmore said these would be the most important European elections Ireland has ever had.
In the East consitituency, Labour is running Nessa Childers; Alan Kelly is running in the South; Susan O’Keeffe in the North West and sitting MEP Proinsias De Rossa is running in Dublin.
Mr Gilmore said he was proud of the candidates the party was putting forward. “They are people of calibre and integrity. People who are passionate and committed. People who will be a strong voice for Ireland in Europe.”
He said Ireland's future "depends crucially" on what happens in Europe and that Labour, together with its sister parties in the Party of European Socialists (PES) would campaign on a platform “that is about jobs and fairness”.
“Europe is facing its worst economic crisis since the 1930s. More than 19 million Europeans are now unemployed, and the number is rising. In February alone, half a million Europeans lost their jobs,” Mr Gilmore said.
He said the crisis had created “clear political dividing lines in Europe” between those whose instinct is to do everything possible to save jobs, and those who are “obsessed with accounting exercises”.
“For all that our economic problems have been caused domestically, getting out of them depends on what happens in the European economy. Growth in Europe will drive growth in Ireland. And European action can assist Irish people to get back to work as quickly as possible.”
He said the crisis in global capitalism demanded a response at a European level and that a strong left voice in the European Parliament was vital.
Mr Gilmore said Susan O’Keeffe, a campaigning journalist was “a person of outstanding courage and integrity”. Nessa Childers came “from a family with an unrivalled record of public service”. Senator Alan Kelly, the party’s Seanad finance spokesman, had campaigned vigorously on the jobs issue, he said.
And Mr Gilmore said if anyone wanted to know why it matters who sits in the European Parliament, they should look at the record of Proinsias De Rossa.
“He has campaigned passionately and indefatigably on the protection of public services, on worker’s rights, on consumer protection, on environmental protection, and on equal pay.”
Mr De Rossa said that by winning extra seats, Labour and its sister parties across Europe could be the largest political group in the European parliament and in “a powerful position to take Europe in the new direction developing progressive social, economic and environmental policies which puts jobs and justice at the top of the political agenda”.