About
Jim Higgins
 I
am honoured and proud to have been elected by the people
of the North-West Constituency to represent them in
the European Parliament. The constituency is one of
the largest geographically in the European Union, comprising
of the three border counties in Ulster, the five counties
of Connaught and Clare in Munster, and Longford and Westmeath in Leinster.
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| Photo European Parliament |
My immediate reaction on taking my seat
for the first time was the sheer size and scale of the
Parliament - 736 seats, 27 Member States and 23 working
languages, with Irish, after a long campaign of lobbying,
becoming the 23rd official working language of
the European Union. Just as we have a political party
structure in the Dáil, likewise all Irish MEPs
are aligned to different political groups in Europe.
My three Fine Gael colleagues and I are members of the
EPP Group, which, with around 266 members, is the
largest political group in the European Parliament.
Because we do not have an overall majority, it means
that alliances have to be forged in order to get our
legislative proposals adopted.
One can imagine, with the current 736 members there
is fierce competition for speaking time at the parliamentary
plenary sessions. To date I have addressed the Parliament
on a variety of topics, ranging from the Civil Protection
Programme, which is designed to cope with natural disasters,
to the contentious issue of the Irish Government's policy
on drift-netting of wild Atlantic salmon.
Much of the Parliament's best, but under-publicised,
work takes place in the twenty committees, plus sub-committees
and temporary committees. Because of the huge infrastructural
deficit in the North-West Constituency, I opted to become
a member of theTransport and Tourism Committee. I am also a substitute
member of the Fisheries Committee and the Petitions Committee with full participation
and voting rights. The Transport Committes are crucial in relation
to the much needed improvement of road and rail services,
regional airports and sea-ports in the Border, Midlands
and Western Region as well as addressing the acute transport infrastructure deficit the region has, and Fisheries is a vital issue which concerns many constituents of the North West.
It is an exciting time to be an elected
Member of the most successful political experiment in
history. The former belligerents in the two bloodiest
wars ever experienced are working in harmony with the
other participants for the mutual betterment of Europe's
495million citizens; New Eastern European democracies,
formerly locked in the icy grip of Moscow, are now adding
to the diversity and solidarity of the Union; Bulgaria
and Romania have teams of observers watching the Parliament
in readiness for their entry to the EU; a European Parliament
with greatly enhanced powers and greater equilibrium,
each country having their own Commissioner...
And yet, we cannot afford to be complacent
and take Europe for granted. Its underlying fragility
was graphically exposed by the rejection of the Constitutional
Treaty by two of the founding states, France and the
Netherlands. The Irish people rejected the Lisbon Treaty in 2009. What is patently clear is that more and
more European citizens see "Europe" as being
too bureaucratic and intrusive. There is, therefore,
a huge challenge ahead for all of us. It is a challenge
that cannot be shirked and one which I am ready to face.
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