The Minister of State for Higher Education Niall Collins has said Fianna Fáil will engage with its four MEPs on voting for Ursula Von der Leyen to serve a second term as President of the European Commission.
Mr Collins said the party will put this in the context of securing the best possible portfolio for Ireland’s nominee as Commissioner, Micheal McGrath.
The Government has nominated Minister for Finance Michael McGrath as Ireland’s next Commissioner and there is unease within the Coalition that a bloc of Government MEPs voting against Ms von der Leyen could damage Mr McGrath’s chances of securing a senior economic portfolio.
Speaking on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics, Mr Collins said Fianna Fáil MEPs “will have to reflect on the position they took during the election campaign”.
The four Fianna Fáil MEPs had indicated that they would vote against Ms von der Leyen in the secret ballot due to take place in mid-July.
Ms von der Leyen needs the support of a majority in the European Parliament and there are indications that she may struggle to win enough votes.
Mr Collins said the Renew/ALDE group, of which Fianna Fáil is a member, has now agreed to back Ursula von der Leyen and Tánaiste Mícheál Martin will be engaging further with the party’s MEPs on how they vote saying “all of our MEPs have a role to play in terms of supporting Michael McGrath achieving the highest profile and best portfolio which would be advantageous to Ireland”.
On Friday, Taoiseach Simon Harris said he would be “engaging” with Irish MEPs ahead of the vote.
Mr Harris said he would not be lobbying the MEPs but added it was important that “we get behind Michael McGrath’s nomination”.
Mr Harris said that there was a three-way coalition at EU level of the centre-right European People’s Party, of which Fine Gael is a member, the Socialists and Renew, of which Fianna Fáil is a member.
He added the coalition would now provide a working majority in the European Parliament.
