In the moments after Ursula von der Leyen was re-elected for a second term as European Commission president, a queue of well-wishers pushed forward to embrace the victor.
Among the many MEPs lining up to shake her hand was Fianna Fáil’s Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, one of the 10 Irish members of the European Parliament who publicly stated they voted against the commission president in the vote.
Ms Ní Mhurchú said she congratulated the German politician on her win, while also getting in a good word about former finance minister Michael McGrath, who Ireland is putting forward as their next EU commissioner. In the end, Ms von der Leyen had a comfortable majority in the 720-seat parliament to secure another five years at the helm of the EU.
Travelling to the parliament’s second chamber in the French city of Strasbourg, is a bit like a trip to the Gaeltacht as a teenager. MEPs, EU officials, lobbyists and journalists make the journey down from Brussels for voting sessions usually held once a month. Given the parliament building is outside the city centre, most MEPs spend the time between meetings and votes inside the building, milling around the same few cafes, bars, and corridors. Everyone is a bit on top of each other with nowhere to go.
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One MEP remarked that they avoid the main cafe in the parliament, for fear of being set upon by lobbyists looking to burn their ear off about some policy. At one point towards the end of the week, a hungry-looking Aodhán Ó Ríordáin was retreating to his office with a roll and a can of Coke in his hand, when the Labour MEP was chanced upon by this journalist and another from the Business Post.
I just kept saying ‘housing, housing, housing’ . . . It became a bit of a phrase that I kept talking about
Irish MEPs who won seats in European elections in early June have been over and back to Brussels for meetings, but the first parliament votes were this week. The ballot to confirm or reject Ms von der Leyen as commission president was always going to dominate the conversation.
She had the support of a governing coalition made up of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), which includes Fine Gael, the centrists and liberals of Renew, and centre-left Socialists & Democrats (S&D). The backing of the Greens grouping made up the numbers and accounted for rebels in the centre majority who voted against Ms von der Leyen.
Irish MEPs in the governing political groupings were among some of the few to publicly go against their colleagues and oppose the commission president. Fianna Fáil’s four MEPs, Barry Andrews, Barry Cowen, Billy Kelleher and Ms Ní Mhurchú, sit in Renew, as do Michael McNamara and Ciaran Mullooly, while Ó Ríordáin is in the S&D group.
Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan and Kathleen Funchion, as well as Independent Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, are in the Left group, who voted against a second von der Leyen term. The four Fine Gael MEPs – Nina Carberry, Regina Doherty, Seán Kelly and Maria Walsh – were the only Irish who voted in her favour.
The main reason for the Irish opposition was Ms von der Leyen’s comments in the early days of the Israel-Gaza war, where she was seen as lending unconditional support to Israel in how it would respond to Hamas’s October 7th attacks.
It remains to be seen if the Irish MEPs in Renew and S&D breaking ranks will be soon forgotten, or held over them when it comes to bartering on legislation later. Those loudly pushing the narrative of Fianna Fáil losing clout in their Renew group usually came from the Fine Gael or wider EPP stable. French and Slovenian MEPs who sit in the centre groupings also indicated they would oppose Ms von der Leyen.
There was some chatter around the parliament about the manner in which Ms Ní Mhurchú asked Ms von der Leyen to consider making an apology over her misstep on Gaza during a private meeting.
The four Fine Gael MEPs – Nina Carberry, Regina Doherty, Seán Kelly and Maria Walsh – were the only Irish who voted in Ms von der Leyen’s favour
The commission president had been fielding questions at a closed-door meeting of MEPs in the Renew group, several days before the confirmation vote. “I did ask her would she consider giving an apology in terms of her overstep, misstep, on Gaza,” Ms Ní Mhurchú said. She added that Ms von der Leyen did not respond.
The fact the four Fianna Fáil MEPs said they voted against the commission president would damage Mr McGrath’s chances of landing a good EU commissioner portfolio, Fine Gael’s Regina Doherty said.
“Michael McGrath is a really credible, intelligent, smart representative for Ireland, even for a Fianna Fáiler, right. And yet we’re going to tie his two hands behind his back before he even gets here?” the new MEP said.
The former minister for social protection said the European Parliament had big characters on the extremes of the left and the right. “I’m actually afraid that the theatre might take over,” she said. “If we don’t make sure that the centre works for people, well, then we can’t complain when they go to the far right or the far left looking for new directions,” she said.
A big part of getting things done in the parliament is finding a way to convince colleagues in your political grouping to get behind or against some policy. Ireland had not had an MEP in the parliament’s second-biggest group, the centre left S&D, for a decade until Mr Ó Ríordáin was elected last month.
The new MEP spent recent weeks pushing S&D to lobby for the EU to do more on housing, a policy area it has not traditionally been involved in. “I just kept saying ‘housing, housing, housing’ . . . It became a bit of a phrase that I kept talking about. I asked that we would propose and pursue the idea of a housing commissioner,” Mr Ó Ríordáin said.
In a speech ahead of the confirmation vote, Ms von der Leyen announced she would create a new commissioner portfolio that would be responsible for housing, if given a second term. Mr Ó Ríordáin has floated the idea of Ireland and Mr McGrath pursuing the brief in the coming divvy-up of commissioner jobs. However, it is likely to be given to someone who comes from the centre-left politically.
The ballot to confirm or reject Ms von der Leyen as commission president was always going to dominate the conversation
Another new MEP, Mr Mullooly, was not long before courting controversy, by criticising the way the EU approved a law setting targets to restore biodiversity loss.
The nature restoration law had been passed by the previous European Parliament in February, before being held up for several months due to opposition from some member states. It was formally ratified last month, completing a lengthy journey down the winding path EU policy proposals must tread before becoming law.
In a video posted online on his first day in Brussels, Mr Mullooly said it was “deeply disappointing” that the new parliament elected in June had not been given time to consider the implications of the law.
Speaking this week, he said his comments had been “misinterpreted” and criticism he received afterwards about not understanding the EU policymaking process did not faze him. “At the bottom line, having been back in the constituency, I was identified in the light of that comment as someone who stood up for farmers, and that’s precisely why I’m here,” he said.
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