Clare-Daly
WITH THE elections for the European Parliament to take place in early June, much speculation has focused on the prospects of the far right, with headlines predicting big gains for such parties. But while there are a plethora of Irish parties chasing that right-wing surge, from Independent Ireland to the National Party, the biggest change in the European Parliament from an Irish perspective may come about for Irish MEPs aligned to the parliament’s left grouping, the GUE/NGL.
Four of Ireland’s 13 MEPs are aligned with the GUE/NGL – Chris McManus, Sinn Féin; Clare Daly and Mick Wallace, Independents 4 Change; and Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, Independent. There are 37 MEPs who are members of GUE/NGL, with the largest parties – La France Insoumise and Die Linke from Germany – both having five MEPs in the group.
A bitter split in Die Linke, however, may result in a realignment of left-wing parties in the next European Parliament. The Alliance Sahar Wagenknecht (BSW) was launched in early January and its eponymous leader, a former spokesperson for Die Linke, characterises her new party’s ideology as being “left-wing conservative”. This is an odd mixture of traditional class politics – demanding higher taxes on the rich and expansion of the welfare state – alongside a hard-line anti-immigration policy and condemnation of measures taken to tackle climate change. It is also critical of Nato, and the European Union and Germany’s military support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
Polls in Germany suggest that Wagenknecht and her BSW may end up with as many as seven MEPs and Wagenknecht herself has suggested that she is attempting to form a new left-wing party at a European level. Any new parliamentary group, however, would require at least 23 MEPs representing a minimum of seven EU countries.
SF will undoubtedly increase its representation in the European Parliament from the single seat Matt Carthy won in 2019. That seat is now held by alternate MEP Chris McManus from Sligo but this year, across all three European constituencies, SF is running strong teams of candidates. In addition, incumbents Daly, Wallace and Flanagan are likely to run very strong campaigns for re-election.
Goldhawk wonders whether the fact that McManus and Flanagan recently voted against the contentious Nature Restoration Law means they are “left-wing conservatives”.
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