Just 12 weeks ago I, along with 86 per cent of Green Party members, voted to go into government. We did that precisely because we believe that engagement is necessary for us to achieve our political goals.
It has been a hectic 12 weeks of intense learning. I haven’t had to handle so much information since I sat my Leaving Cert.
But we intend to keep right at it. And we remain signed up for the long haul with its challenges, problems and many potential achievements.
The Green Party has since its inception believed in engagement and facing challenges.
It has long been my colleagues’ and my own belief that the greatest economic challenge we all face in the 21st century is the provision of clean, cheap and secure energy.
Our over-arching goal has to be the reduction of carbon emissions to combat the effects of climate change. We must play our part in protecting those in developing countries and indeed our own children and grandchildren who would otherwise bear the brunt of a problem not of their making.
Making the necessary switch will also protect us from the impending peak in global oil production. We need to rapidly reduce our wasteful use of limited natural resources while learning new ways to provide energy services from the abundant renewable resources at our disposal.
Our very survival depends upon meeting this energy challenge. Our measures of progress must be defined by whether or not we are doing so. It is clear to me that these challenges can only be met by a combination of action here at home and, at the same time, active engagement in international co-operation on the issue. We can only progress by sharing technologies and resources while also agreeing common responsibilities with other countries on the cuts that need to be made. This agenda will require our full engagement in the European Movement as a vital step towards achieving greater global co-operation.
The Green Party, in its various manifestations, has been engaged with the European Union, in its various manifestations, for a long time now.
Through that process we have frequently been stridently critical of aspects of “Brussels’ machinations”.
We intend to continue our critical engagement – but our criticisms should never be confused with ‘Euro-scepticism’ much less ‘Euro-phobia.’ Even if on occasions in the past our stance on EU issues has been traduced and misrepresented in this fashion.
For the decade 1994-2004 our two MEPs, Patricia McKenna and Nuala Ahern, built up a reputation for hardwork and commitment at the European Parliament. They both helped end the phony Irish consensus on the EU which was based on little knowledge and driven by notions of ‘free money’ from farm, regional and social grant funds.
Come June 2009 we intend once more to have hard-working and committed MEPs back in Brussels and Strasbourg.
The Green Party/Comhaontas Glas has played an active role in the Grouping of European Green Parties where there is active co-operation and sharing of policies. Our sister parties represented in the European Parliament, and in national and regional governments and parliaments across the continent, have been successfully advancing Green policies at a European level for decades.
There are over 30 Green parties in this movement, all with an equal right to be heard. We understand, therefore, the necessity of streamlining complicated decision-making processes in order that we can arrive at shared but effective decisions. This experience has helped us recognise long ago the need to debate new EU decision-making structures, especially as the number of member states grows.
For all its flaws, the EU is the most successful example of international political and economic cooperation of our time. The voluntary pooling of our sovereignty has given all the member states strength.
I was at the UN Conference on Climate Change in Nairobi last year and have to say I was proud of the European Union. The European Union representative took by far the most progressive line of all countries or groupings there.
The EU has decided that, regardless of other countries, we are going to take the lead. Our energy and climate are public goods and the EU is committed to becoming a low-carbon economy.
This year, the EU agreed to cut overall levels of greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020, vowing to boost the figure to 30% if the rest of the developed world does the same.
Europe’s Emissions Trading System is an essential part of our overall climate change strategy.
We have also agreed to a binding target of obtaining at least 20% of all Europe’s energy needs from renewable sources by the same date.
Ireland imports most of its energy and is dependent on Britain, Norway and the Netherlands among others for the gas needed to produce a large proportion of the electricity we use.
Again, in this instance Europe has recognized this interdependence and, rather than entering into complicated piecemeal agreements between different countries, the European Commission is attempting to manage our electricity and gas networks on a Europe-wide basis.
Last year, this formed the basis of an EU Green Paper on Energy, which I strongly support.
Covering the EU as you do you will be aware that the Union has shown real leadership in this area. I would not like to see these energy targets as the limits of our ambitions but they are at the forefront of international standards.
If the EU can take a common approach on energy, and articulate it with a common voice then hopefully the rest of the world will begin to follow suit.
As we open our own internal debate on the Reform Treaty we would like to see it being used to advance such issues. Most pleasing to me in the emerging text is the first reference in any EU treaty to climate change.
This was secured by the newly-formed Irish Government in July of this year. The text now commits the EU to tackling regional and worldwide environmental problems, “in particular tackling climate change”.
This will provide the Commission with the first legal basis to propose legislation to tackle climate change. We equally welcome references to solidarity on energy supply and changes to energy policy more generally.
The EU has for a long time prompted Ireland to legislate and act to protect its environment. Many Green Party members and other environmental activists have turned to Brussels to help advance their campaigns. Action to protect habitats and endangered species, improved waste water treatment, curbing nitrates and other initiatives were boosted by Green activists from all over Europe and beyond.
We have worked with other EU Green parties and many of those have successfully preceded us into national government. We have taken the best advice from counterparts in Germany, Finland and elsewhere before we followed their example and joined coalition governments.
At a recent Council meeting of European environment Ministers John Gormley told me how proud he was to be joined by fellow Green Ministers from Italy, Latvia, Belgium and the Czech Republic.
At home in Ireland we also engaged conscientiously with the Forum on Europe. Our party leader and now my cabinet colleague, John Gormley, was a hard-working member of the constitutional convention which framed the fore-runner of this EU Reform Treaty.
The Charter of Fundamental Rights – which accompanies the EU Reform Treaty – is something the Green Party will insist upon. It must be legally binding – without it our members would find it impossible to support this Treaty. There can be no question of seeking to exercise an opt-out which we would effectively see as an opt-out from the entire process.
I am encouraged that the Minister of State for Europe Dick Roche shares this view.
On our fundamental rights, if we have to make a choice between Boston and Berlin, then the Green Party looks to Berlin.
We are encouraged to see Ireland’s suggestion for a dialogue with citizens has been included into the EU Council’s conclusions of last summer. Equally, Ireland’s “red lines” have been respected.
Taxation remains an issue for unanimous decisions and the current Irish government will vigorously defend this position with one voice. On defence we remain most cautious but are proud to see Ireland’s involvement in “soft security actions” mandated by the UN and approved by Government and Oireachtas.
The Green Party entered Government because we recognised that taking the hard decisions and reforming from within is the most effective way to achieve change. Opposition for its own sake is fruitless. Social change, the Italian political theorist Antonio Gramsci tells us is achieved in “the long march through institutions”.
Over the past 12 weeks we have been busy learning the business of government. While we continue this work, the coming 12 weeks will tell us a lot about the EU Reform Treaty and the next phase in the EU’s development.
The Green Party has already begun the internal debate about our engagement with and approach towards the EU. I am confident that we will be ready to engage in the upcoming debate about the Treaty.
ENDS