Taoiseach says he'll 'engage' with Irish MEPs over vote on Ursula von der Leyen

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

WITH MEPS NOW set to vote on the European Council’s nomination of Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Council, Taoiseach Simon Harris has said he plans to engage with Irish MEPs ahead of the secret ballot.

Last night, European leaders agreed to back von der Leyen for a second term as President, but her position still must be approved by a secret ballot of the European Parliament in mid-July.

Von der Leyen will need to receive the votes of at least half the parliament’s 720 members.

A deal has been struck between the European People’s Party (EPP), the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the centrist Renew Europe to vote for von der Leyen which would bring her comfortably to 400 votes.

But her own party colleagues have admitted that it will be difficult to achieve given that all MEPs may not vote in line with their groupings.

Out of Ireland’s 14 MEPs, Fine Gael’s four newly-elected ones, who sit in the EPP, are the only group of Irish politicians in Brussels who have openly backed Von der Leyen’s bid this time around.

In contrast, Fianna Fáil’s MEPs (who set in Renew) have been very critical of von der Leyen over her handling of the conflict in Gaza and disagree with her stances on defence policy and the EU.

Speaking to The Journal this week, newly-elected Labour MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said he would not be voting for her.

The party’s four MEPS, Billy Kelleher, Barry Cowen, Barry Andrews and Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, all said during the European elections that they would not be voting for von der Leyen. This is despite the Irish Government coalition, which includes Fianna Fáil, backing her.

Taoiseach Simon Harris told reporters in Brussels today that he would be engaging with Irish MEPs ahead of the vote, but that he respects individual MEPs right to vote as they see fit.

“I think when it comes to MEPs voting for the commission presidents, they’re effectively voting for that commissioner’s team,” he said yesterday, as he appealed to MEPs to back von der Leyen and Ireland’s commissioner nomination, Micheal McGrath.

However when asked today if he will effectively be “lobbying” Ireland’s MEPs to back von der Leyen in “the national interest”, the Taoiseach said the “short answer” was no.

“I’m very respectful of the different roles that people have. I’m a member of the European Council. We took our decision yesterday, other people have been elected to the European Parliament, and they have a right to vote as they wish,” he said.

He added: “I’m confident that President von der Leyen will be ratified by the European Parliament.”