The Future of Europe is in Your Hands
ActionAid’s mission is to empower women living in poverty and exclusion to achieve their human rights and secure support for transformative change from Ireland and global institutions.
Your commitment to global justice and women’s rights is crucial. On June 7th, you have the opportunity to ensure the European Union embraces this commitment as well.
By voting, you will determine which Members of the European Parliament will represent you for the next five years, as well as how the EU responds to issues of global poverty, women’s rights, climate action, addressing inequalities, and migration. These are the issues that matter to the women and communities we work with. These are the issues that matter to ActionAid’s work globally. We hope that these issues matter to you when you have your say in determining the future of Europe.
Here at ActionAid, we have analyzed the manifestoes of the five European political parties current Irish MEPs are affiliated with and the Socialists & Democrats (S&D) political grouping (Labour or Social Democrats don’t currently have any MEPs but would likely join the S&D if they were successful).
This is not an analysis of individual Irish MEPs work at the European Parliament. We acknowledge and commend some MEPs who have worked to address poverty and inequality and have been more outspoken than their political party on human rights. This analysis is intended to support those MEPs and voters to question and influence their political parties to put greater attention on the issues we care about.
READ OUR ANALYSIS IN FULL HERE
Our analysis looks at their positions on women’s rights, climate justice, global inequalities, migration, and the Gaza crisis. All these issues are on the ballot when you vote on June 7th.
We recognize there are so many candidates and it’s hard to read all of the material that comes through your letterbox, so we have suggestions for questions for your MEPs:
Women’s Rights:
- What is your party doing to reduce the levels of GBV across Europe and globally so that women and other marginalized groups are free from violence?
- How will your party support women’s organizations and feminist movements working globally to address poverty, GBV and realize women’s rights?
Climate Justice:
- What is your party doing to address the financial flows going through Ireland and Europe’s financial system to fossil fuel companies and industrial agribusiness operating in the Global South?
- What is your party doing to ensure a just transition away from fossil fuels for countries and communities, especially in the Global South who are most impacted by climate change?
Global Inequalities:
- What is your party doing to plan for Ireland and the EU to reach its commitments of 0.7% of the gross national income to go to development aid?
- What is your party doing in Ireland and the EU to push Member States to go beyond the current directive in their domestic legislation to widen the criteria for companies and their supply chains to be held accountable for human rights and environmental abuses?
Migration:
- What is your party doing to raise concerns about the EU PACT on migration to ensure that new systems and procedures do not violate human rights and put migrants at increased protection risks?
- What is your party doing to combat the removal of migrants to Third States outside the EU where there is potential for human rights violations?
Gaza:
- What is your party doing to ensure there is a ceasefire in Gaza?
- What is your party doing to uphold international law and support efforts to hold Israel accountable for the military occupation and current assault on Gaza?
PS: Here is a breakdown of how Irish parties are generally linked with European parties:
Fine Gael European | People’s Party (EPP)
Fianna Fáil | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE)
Sinn Féin, Independents | European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)
Labour Party, Social Democrats | Socialists & Democrats (S&D)
Green Party | European Green Party (EGP)
