The following article by W. Owl was first published in Unity, the weekly paper of the Irish Communist Party.
IN our media review page last week, we quoted Irish News columnist Patrick Murphy in his conclusion that devotion to Brussels is Ireland's new national religion and that criticism of the EU is Irelands lasts remaining mortal sin. Last week we also published an article on the Aughinish Alumina plant in Limerick which is under threat of sanctions. A report in the Irish News -15th July-would only increase the worries of the workers at the plant. The headline of the report read "Hard to Know" when the workers there will obtain clarity about the plant's future and was a quote from the Tánaiste Simon Harris.
His comments were backed up by Peter Burke of the Department of Enterprise when he said he could not offer any reassurances to workers about the future of the plant, but his last comments were most alarming when he said "This is a European issue. Europe has policy responsibility for sanctions. This attitude only confirmed Murphy's claim that the "EU has done what Britain could not. It has neutered Irish nationalists' quest for independence."
It was rumoured at one time that the plant could be nationalised, but Burke quashed that idea when he said that it did not meet the "high threshold" required for nationalisation for that to happen. He added "that the current legal advice I have before me is that the threshold it would have to reach for nationalisation would be pretty significant, and that the threshold has not been reached." One would wonder what is meant by the threshold. Maybe he could explain to workers at the plant what the threshold is. The Mayor of Limerick John Moran wrote to Martin and Harris asking the government to support the workers and the wider community by setting up a dedicated forum as they are facing an "uncertain" future. We are at a loss to know what a "dedicated forum" is as many others will be. Another issue that is causing problems for the EU is trade with illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestine territories. Spain's foreign minister has accused the EU of delaying action to ban trade. According to a report in the Irish Times any action has been slowed down by what is described as procedural quarrels. The fact that such a ban would benefit Palestine and punish Israel's illegal actions seems to be of secondary importance to the EU. The disagreement is over whether such a policy needs to be approved by "unanimity" or a "weighted majority," their equivalent of Nero fiddling while Rome burns. The European Commission (unelected) which we are reminded is the EU's executive aim that proposes laws has set out three options on how the bloc could stop or restrict trade coming from the settlements. They include: 1. A full or partial trade ban, 2. increasing import tariffs to make trade unviable in practice or 3. a scheme where Israeli businesses in occupied territories apply for a licence to export goods to the European market. The Irish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Helen McEntee said that they favoured an EU ban on imported goods adding that the two alternative options were non-starters as they effectively legitimised a trading relationship between European countries and the illegal settlements.
It can be said that the commission's proposals show a lack of enthusiasm on the issue. Last year a proposal to suspend an EU Israel free trade deal in protest against Israels military campaign in Gaza did not receive sufficient support from member states. It seems some were hesitant as they did not want to damage their relations with Israel. As the author of the report wrote, the Commissions suggestion that the bar suddenly be raised to require all 27 member's states seems to be a clumsy effort to steer the discussion into a debate with no end then shrug its shoulders when there is no agreement.
Contrast this with the fact that there have been 20 packages of sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine. It is safe to say that the attitude of EU leaders and especially the Commissions is just a greenlight to Isreal and its genocidal actions.
What fate awaits the Limerick Workers is "hard to know" but they should be advised not to make any long-term plans if their future is in the hands of the Commissions.