Gillian Brien, the People Before Profit candidate for the Dublin European election has supported the sentiment behind Presidents Michael D Higgins speech on the EU.
She said:
“The President has ruffled the feathers of the political elite by criticising the EU. But he is right and, indeed, we should go further.
“Michael D Higgins said that the ‘economic constitution of the EU is endangering European solidarity’. By this he meant a philosophy which assumes ‘there was no area of life in which the optimum circumstances could not be provided from the market place.’
“I could not agree more.
“EU directives, which have little democratic mandate, are being used to enforce privatisation and de-regulation.
“The Growth and Stability Pact has been used to hinder public spending. Why, for example, cannot the €8 billion Irish Strategic Investment Fund not be used to promote a major social housing building programme?
“Rules on state aid prevent the expansion of semi state companies.
“This reduction of policy to the ethos of the private market is leading to greater inequality.
“We need a radical break from these policies and that means having both a voice in Europe and electing left wing governments who are willing to defy such rules.
“That is the way we can re-create a genuine solidarity and squeeze out the racist discourses that seek to divide.”
