The EU’s rapporteur on Ukraine has criticised two Irish MEPs for voting against a motion condemning Russian aggression against Ukraine.
Michael Gahler branded Clare Daly and Mick Wallace as “completely irrelevant” and questioned their motivation in voting down the motion.
The Independents 4 Change members were among 13 MEPs to vote against the European Parliament resolution, which also argued in favour of the speeding up of Ukraine’s candidacy for EU membership.
Mr Gahler, the European Parliament’s standing rapporteur on Ukraine, added that the move has not helped “the Irish cause”.
“He (Mr Wallace) reads things so intensely from a piece of paper, I don’t know where he gets it from. Maybe he is under instruction from Moscow or the embassy there,” Mr Gahler said.
“I wouldn’t speculate.”
He said that the motion received a total of 657 votes, which accounted for more than 90% of MEPs.
“So, I mean, they are completely irrelevant and I really wonder what their real motivation is,” Mr Gahler added.
He went on: “They are politically irrelevant. They are very marginal and they are exotic and they are not helping the Irish cause by any means.”
Ms Daly has defended the decision to vote against the motion, saying it represents the anti-war mandate she was elected on.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael senator Sean Kelly said that the EU needs to bring in more sanctions against Russia and to “cripple” President Vladimir Putin’s ability to “eliminate Ukraine”.
I think we probably need more sanctions, and we also need to hold the line
Russia has been hit with a raft of sanctions from Western countries, including those in the EU, which is considering introducing further penalties against Moscow.
Mr Kelly also accused Mr Putin of “killing people left, right and centre”.
“I think we have to do everything we can to basically make it difficult for Putin to be successful in Ukraine,” Mr Kelly added.
“If the European Commission looks at something, they will look at it in its broadest terms, and see how it will affect a situation. I will be going along with that.
“I think we probably need more sanctions, and we also need to hold the line.
“This is a threat, essentially, to democracy, and especially to Europe. So we have to use everything we can to try and cripple Putin’s ability to eliminate Ukraine.”
Green MEP Grace O’Sullivan called for her EU counterparts to review the European Green Deal as the EU relies too much on getting its energy from Russia.
“We now know that we, in the European Union, have far too much reliance on getting energy from in Russia – it’s just hugely problematic,” she told reporters in Strasbourg.
“The fact that we are so reliant on Russian gas and we have, over the years, been fuelling and financing Putin and the Kremlin to enable them to do what they’re doing at the moment.
“That’s why, for us in the European Union, more than ever we’re going to have to take a relook at the European Green Deal, and instead of watering it down, which was happening to some degree over the past number of years, we need to bolster because we have energy security issues, we have food security issues, and a humanitarian crisis.”
