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Irish Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Baltic states' ‘visceral fear' of Russian invasion ‘almost impossible' for Irish to understand, says ex-MEP
Ireland is having an 'esoteric' debate about ending the triple-lock on sending Irish soldiers abroad while other European Union states fear invasion by Russia , former Green Party MEP Ciarán Cuffe has declared. [ 'Hands off Ireland's neutrality': Government warned changes to triple-lock system will be fought Opens in new window ] The 'visceral fear' felt by Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania that Russian leader Vladmir Putin could order the invasion of their countries is 'almost impossible to understand' for an Irish audience, he said. Speaking at the Patrick MacGill summer school in Glenties, Co Donegal, Mr Cuffe, who is now the co-chair of the European Green Party, said the Baltic states are debating whether to pull out of an international agreement banning landmines. 'Why? Because these countries want to have a belt of landmines ready if Putin comes across the border. We can have an esoteric discussion of the triple lock. But in those countries, it's what might happen tomorrow or the next day,' he said. READ MORE [ Poll shows Ireland's attachment to neutrality is strong but nuanced Opens in new window ] Eastern European EU states worry about mobilising soldiers in 24 hours: 'It's a debate we're not even thinking about here. We're still wrestling with [a report] that said our army, our defence forces are 40 years out of date. I think we have to come to grips with that.' Former MEP Ciarán Cuffe at Patrick MacGill Summer School on Saturday Speaking on the Gaza crisis and Ireland's stand on the issue, Mr Cuffe urged an Irish audience to remember that 'the legacy of the Holocaust casts a very long shadow over central Europe. 'When I talk to my colleagues in Germany or Austria, they are so hard-wired into protecting the state of Israel, they find it incredibly difficult to recognise the magnitude of human slaughter of Palestinian people that is occurring. 'However, public opinion is changing in Germany,' he said, adding that the European Green Party now favours the suspension of parts of the EU-Israel association agreement that do not require all EU states to agree. Ireland's focus on the Gaza crisis is understandable given our history as a postcolonial country: 'We do find it so strong and so close to our own history. So, we have to act on that,' he said, Meanwhile, Dr Eoin Drea, senior researcher at the Brussels-based Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, warned that Ireland's positions on neutrality and defence spending have damaged the country's standing. 'I always get anxious talking about Ukraine in Ireland because I really want Irish people to know that in Brussels, Ireland is not viewed as a credible voice, as a serious voice on security and defence,' he said. Ireland is talking about buying a towed sonar array to track Russian submarines 'interfering with our undersea cables, but on some days, we don't have enough sailors even to put a ship to sea. So, what are we going to tow this sonar array with?' Before the Ukraine crisis, few other EU states took any notice of Ireland's attitudes on defence and neutrality, he said: 'There was a lot of ignorance about the Irish situation before Ukraine. We were out on the western seaboard, we didn't matter.' Since then, however, it has become clear to other EU states that the United Kingdom 'takes care' of Ireland's security and defence: 'If there's a Russian fighter that buzzes by Irish airspace, it's RAF jets that are scrambled to meet them,' he said. [ Who protects Irish skies? The secret air defence deal that dates back to the cold war Opens in new window ] Meanwhile, trust in democracy has fallen significantly over the last 25 years across western countries because of voters' 'lack of faith' in traditional political parties' ability to tackle problems, former minister for Europe Lucinda Creighton said. Scandals in nearly all western countries have led to 'an erosion of trust in the consensus around the political order', the former Fine Gael TD said. Traditional centre-left and centre-right political parties have 'struggled to capture the attention of younger voters' and have been unable to use social media tools to connect with them, unlike populist parties. Blue-collar and middle-class workers 'just don't have the same hope and positivity and sense of opportunity that they might have done in the past', leading to a lack of faith in the liberal order, she went on. Equally, populist or right-wing parties in Poland, Germany, France and elsewhere have successfully 'adopted quite radical left-wing policies, but coupled them with some right-wing narratives', she said.
Euronews
16-06-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Paris AirShow opens with 2,400 exhibitors amid Airbus-Boeing rivalry
The Paris AirShow opened on Monday at Le Bourget airfield, with more than 2,400 exhibitors from 48 countries set to display their latest innovations during the week-long showcase. The event is the world's largest and most prestigious showcase for the aerospace and defence industry. The ongoing rivalry between Europe's Airbus and US-made Boeing aircraft manufacturers is set to further intensify at the event as both companies announce significant new orders. Boeing expects global demand for air travel to increase by more than 40% by 2030. However, global tensions, trade tariffs and the Air India crash have cast a shadow over the event. Last week's crash of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner passenger jet minutes after takeoff put the spotlight back on the beleaguered US manufacturer. However, it was not immediately clear why the plane crashed. Meanwhile, France has shut down the four leading Israeli companies' stands at the Paris show for apparently displaying offensive weapons, a decision Israel has condemned. 'The French are hiding behind supposedly political considerations to exclude Israeli offensive weapons from an international exhibition — weapons that compete with French industries,' Israel said in a statement on Monday. Three other Israeli stands, which are not showing weapons, remain open. A French appeals court had ruled Friday against activist groups who sought to block Israeli companies from participating in the show due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Europe's fading Green parties met in Brussels to learn from their electoral setbacks and prepare for a comeback. Speaking about their future, they said they wanted to focus on a "just transition" that responds to citizens' concerns, and to support a green investment plan at the European level. "What we definitely need is to give concrete answers to people's everyday concerns about the cost of living," Vula Tsetsi, co-president of the European Green Party, told Euronews. "We think it is very important not to pit the defence and security budget against the just transition, the cost of living and a more social Europe. But this requires investment and political courage", she added. Meanwhile, at a time when "simplification" is the watchword of the European Commission, Ciarán Cuffe, co-president of the European Green Party, said he is "concerned" about the future of the Green Pact, the EU's roadmap for achieving climate neutrality by 2050. He warned against "throwing the baby out with the bathwater". "If we simplify European legislation, we cannot lose sight of why these laws are there. So, for example, on corporate sustainability due diligence, it's about trying to stop modern sweatshops in Bangladesh and elsewhere," he said. The Greens have suffered several electoral setbacks over the past year. While they were the fourth largest group in the European Parliament during the previous legislature (2019-2024), they lost 18 seats in June, dropping from 71 to 53 MEPs. In the German federal elections in February, the Greens led by Robert Habeck obtained 11.61% of the vote, losing 33 seats in the Bundestag. Meanwhile, the Greens have also seen a decline in Austria. After being part of the country's government with the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), they received 8.24% of the vote in the 2024 parliamentary elections and lost 10 seats in the National Council. "When you're in government, you have to make compromises. So it's not easy to win over voters," said Tsetsi. Cuffe blamed the defeats on the party's inability to grasp the issue of defence.
Euronews
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Europe's Green parties are looking for a new lease of life
Europe's fading Green parties met in Brussels to learn from their electoral setbacks and prepare for a comeback. Speaking about their future, they said they wanted to focus on a "just transition" that responds to citizens' concerns, and to support a green investment plan at the European level. "What we definitely need is to give concrete answers to people's everyday concerns about the cost of living," Vula Tsetsi, co-president of the European Green Party, told Euronews. "We think it is very important not to pit the defence and security budget against the just transition, the cost of living and a more social Europe. But this requires investment and political courage", she added. Meanwhile, at a time when "simplification" is the watchword of the European Commission, Ciarán Cuffe, co-president of the European Green Party, said he is "concerned" about the future of the Green Pact, the EU's roadmap for achieving climate neutrality by 2050. He warned against "throwing the baby out with the bathwater". "If we simplify European legislation, we cannot lose sight of why these laws are there. So, for example, on corporate sustainability due diligence, it's about trying to stop modern sweatshops in Bangladesh and elsewhere," he said. The Greens have suffered several electoral setbacks over the past year. While they were the fourth largest group in the European Parliament during the previous legislature (2019-2024), they lost 18 seats in June, dropping from 71 to 53 MEPs. In the German federal elections in February, the Greens led by Robert Habeck obtained 11.61% of the vote, losing 33 seats in the Bundestag. Meanwhile, the Greens have also seen a decline in Austria. After being part of the country's government with the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), they received 8.24% of the vote in the 2024 parliamentary elections and lost 10 seats in the National Council. "When you're in government, you have to make compromises. So it's not easy to win over voters," said Tsetsi. Cuffe blamed the defeats on the party's inability to grasp the issue of defence. Although Mount Etna's latest eruption — which occurred on 2 June — may be well-documented, online users have been calling into question how real footage of the incident is. Videos of tourists scurrying down Mount Etna may have gone viral and been spread by mainstream media, but some users have claimed the footage is actually AI-generated. A number of others have turned to Grok — the X platform's chatbot — to ask whether the footage is authentic. The footage is in fact authentic, and individuals can be seen scurrying down Mount Etna in a video filmed by the Associated Press. However, as AI becomes increasingly sophisticated, its ability to produce content that is indistinguishable from real-life images also increases. This has led to an increasing number of online users becoming suspicious of extraordinary yet authentic footage, due to the high prevalence of AI-generated content online. In a recent survey conducted by Adobe, nearly three-quarters of respondents said they had questioned the authenticity of photos and videos from reputable news sites due to the sheer amount of misinformation that circulates. Another widely shared image shows Mount Etna erupting into a white mushroom cloud. A Facebook post of the image, shared by an account called Travel Wonders on 2 June, garnered more than 72,000 likes. However, by conducting a reverse image search, EuroVerify found that the image matched other photos taken in 2015, just metres away from the same spot. The original image has also featured in multiple academic reports, which confirms the photo is from 4 December 2015 and therefore has nothing to do with the latest eruption.
