Richard Boyd Barrett condemns EU moral bankruptcy over refugee crisis
Richard Boyd Barrett addressed the European Union's response to the refugee crisis in the Greek islands and the emerging coronavirus threat, condemning EU policies as morally bankrupt and calling for emergency rule changes. He urged redirecting resources away from Fortress Europe security toward welcoming refugees, suspending intellectual property and state aid rules if necessary, and abandoning the Mercosur deal in the face of the climate emergency.
Greek islands and EU response
The speaker described harrowing scenes in the Greek islands where thousands of men, women and children fleeing war and oppression are penned up, subject to violence and living in appalling conditions. He said this exposes the "horrible priorities and moral bankruptcy of the European Union" and criticised plans to spend 38 billion euro on strengthening Fortress Europe.
Deals with repressive actors
He criticised the EU's deals with the regime of Erdogan and with militias in Libya as contributing to the current wave of the crisis. He said those arrangements should bring shame to the EU and noted that Deputies Murphy and Smith will take the issue up in more detail.
Calls to redirect funds and welcome refugees
He called on EU representatives to speak out and to end inhumane policies of keeping refugees out, arguing that funds earmarked for military spending, Frontex and Fortress Europe security should instead be used to provide a welcome and to fund services for refugees and citizens across Europe.
Coronavirus and emergency rule changes
On the coronavirus, he warned of rising figures across the EU and urged that rules hindering vaccine research, medicine distribution and use of private for-profit hospital capacity be set aside if necessary. He emphasised that intellectual property, fiscal and state aid rules should be suspended when they obstruct emergency public health measures.
Profiteering and sanctions
He demanded severe punishment and sanctions for those profiteering from shortages of personal protective equipment, hand sanitizers or medicines during the crisis. He said any sign of price-gouging across Europe should be met with strong penalties.
Mercosur deal and climate policy
He argued that any commitment to tackling climate change is incompatible with proceeding with the Mercosur deal and said state aid rules should be suspended to allow the emergency measures needed to address the climate emergency. He warned that many current state aid rules are incompatible with the necessary climate actions.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Maiden in the 33rd, doll. Well actually it's not that either. Ceann Comhairle, European Union's shame is on display in the Greek islands at the moment. It pretends to be some bastion of progressivity is really exposed with the harrowing and terrible scenes of the scenes of thousands and thousands of desperate men, women and children fleeing the most horrendous circumstances of war, of oppression, of displacement, of conflict and then being penned up in this way subject to violence, living in the most appalling conditions. It really exposes frankly the horrible priorities and moral bankruptcy of the European Union. That we are going to spend 38 billion euro on beefing up Fortress Europe to keep human beings out is nothing more than shameful. The fact that this most recent wave of the crisis results essentially from the rotten deal we did with the brutal and repressive regime of Erdogan and other similar deals we have done with rotten, vicious, brutal militias in Libya and so on really, really should bring shame to the European Union. Now, Deputies Murphy and later Deputy Smith will take this issue up in more detail but I just want to say I expect our representatives in Europe to speak out about this, to ask to end the inhumane policy of keeping these human beings out and to instead of put resources into more military spending, into more Frontex, into more Fortress Europe security, that those resources that those resources should be put into giving a welcome to people fleeing here and indeed to put into the resources and services that we need both for them and for all of our citizens in Europe and to end this shameful treatment of these desperate people. But I do also because obviously a big issue that is now the dominant issue in Europe is the coronavirus and I know it's going to be discussed later but there is a European dimension, it's a global crisis we are now facing and as we speak the figures are rising in the European Union and I think there's a number of issues that we need to address at the European level. I think we need to say first of all that any actions that we need to take in order to address this crisis and this threat that may run foul of intellectual property rules around vaccines, around research in those areas, proprietary rules or property rules governing vaccines, governing medicine, its distribution, around for example making use of the capacity of private for profit hospitals in order to deal with the capacity problems we may face, that we need to say that that should be done. And if rules need to be broken and if rules need to be broken and if rules need to be broken and if rules need to be broken or fiscal rules for that matter or state aid rules need to be broken in order to address any of these issues that that should be done. And I think that is terribly important that we do that and also I think we should say across Europe if there's any profiteering on the back of this crisis i.e. people trying to raise the prices and profiteer from the shortages in personal protective equipment, in hand sanitizers, in any of the medicines that people may need to access, it should be severely punished. Severe sanctions should be imposed on any sign of that across Europe. So I just want to make those points in terms of containing the virus notwithstanding the debate that we will take about our specific situation here in Ireland later this evening. The other thing I just want to say in my last few seconds, I just want to say on the Mercosur deal, any talk of commitment to dealing with climate change is completely incompatible with anything other than abandoning the Mercosur deal. And we should be saying that absolutely loud and clear and we should also be saying that state aid rules should be completely suspended when it comes to taking the sort of emergency measures or action necessary to address climate change issues. So I think we need to start to say that very loud and clear because frankly many of the state aid rules are completely incompatible with the necessary actions we have to take in order to address the climate emergency. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Eric. You
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
