Opinion

Brian Feeney: The EU hasn't gone away

The European Parliament in Strasbourg
The European Parliament in Strasbourg The European Parliament in Strasbourg

It’s important and instructive to recall that there’s an EU out there which stands ready to welcome this place back as part of a re-united Ireland without going through lengthy accession talks and negotiation. After all, doesn’t the north adhere to EU single market rules in the customs union?

It’s a sorry state of affairs that so few people are aware that in 2017 the European Council agreed automatic accession after unity.

For example, Ian Óg displayed his complete ignorance of this agreement (and of much else) on BBC's Talkback last week.

His was a classic exposition of unionism’s view of the outside world through the wrong end of their telescope. Move along now, nothing to see out there.

On the contrary, the EU hasn’t gone away you know, nor will it. For many people here, perhaps a majority, it’s their ‘get out of jail free card’.

Unfortunately the pro-British media which dominates in the north seldom mentions the EU for fear of provoking this rotten nativist Conservative government, none of whose members will admit Brexit has failed, though even the awful Farage now admits that.

Of course the supreme example of denial is the DUP, some of whose leading figures hailed the dreaded Irish Sea border in 2020 as an ‘opportunity’, then spent the next two and a half years dismantling the Good Friday Agreement while simultaneously falsely claiming to safeguard it. The authors of their own misfortune – and everyone else’s – what are they like?

In contrast to DUP wreckers and malcontents, there are people working to redress the damage Brexit and its benighted advocates have caused here. One such group is bxl-irishunity.com, established in Brussels this year to promote and advance the cause of Irish unity as an EU matter.

The group is composed mainly of Irish diaspora, but also non-Irish interested in Irish affairs. As well as promoting north-south cooperation in all matters they are anxious to address the democratic deficit caused by Brexit. No, not the spurious rubbish the DUP spouts, but the fact that there are one million EU citizens in the north cut off from EU institutions.

One idea bxl-irishunity is keen to explore is Observer MEP status in the European Parliament for party representatives from here to develop closer links between the north and the EU. They hope to raise this prospect and Irish reunification as election topics with next year’s European Parliament elections approaching.

As it is, the million EU citizens here are mere spectators, though given the absence of coverage of EU matters by British TV and radio outlets it’ll be difficult even to spectate unless you watch RTÉ.

The Euro elections next year are important for several reasons, one of them being an anticipated rise in the number of Sinn Féin MEPs, because the last election in 2019 when they lost two MEPs was the party’s nadir. Now, riding high in the polls they can expect to recover those seats and more.

The European Parliament in Strasbourg
The European Parliament in Strasbourg The European Parliament in Strasbourg

The evidence is that SF is taking the elections very seriously as a means to place Irish unity on the EU agenda.

Martina Anderson, SF’s head of European outreach, is constantly liaising with officials in other parties to drum up interest. Mary Lou McDonald and the party’s new spokesperson on foreign affairs and defence, Matt Carthy, have both made significant speeches about EU policy recently.

It’s clear from McDonald’s remarks at the Institute of International & European Affairs in Brussels that SF is likely to shift from membership of the Left group in the Euro parliament, now the smallest after poor results in 2019.

SF is most likely to join the Socialists & Democrats, the parliament’s second largest group with party leaders like Spain’s Pedro Sanchez and Germany’s Olaf Scholz.

As McDonald said, which group to join is the one offering “the best possible way.. to advance Irish interests”. There’s a world beyond unionism’s backyard.