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Gerry Adams and Bairbre de Brún with Group leader Francis Wurtz and other members of European United Left/Green Nordic Left

In the first of a series of articles, Sinn Féin's Director of European Affairs, Eoin Ó Broin, explores the party's new allies in Europe.

With more than 700 MEPs from 25 EU member states, the list of political parties and interest groups is complicated to say the least. In order to simplify the complexity — and at times cacophony — inherent in this situation, members of the European Parliament have formed into political groups.

In the main, these groups follow traditional European left-liberal-right political fault lines. There are seven such groups in the parliament, with a small number of members remaining outside the group structure.

The largest group in the parliament, with over 250 members, is the European People's Party (EPP), comprising of the Conservative and Christian Democratic parties such as Fine Gael and the Tories. Second to the EPP comes the Socialist group (PES), which contains the Irish and British Labour parties. These two groups have over 500 members between them and constitute the main political blocks within the parliament. The EPP and PES share broadly similar views on issues of economic policy and trade, despite their rhetoric, but often differ sharply on issues of foreign or social policy.

Despite the dominance of the two big groups, three smaller groups play a decisive role throughout the parliamentary year. These include the Liberals (ALDE), the Greens/Free European Alliance, and Sinn Féin's group, the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL).

The Liberals, as in many national parliaments, sit between the Social Democrats and the Christian Democrats on many issues. Their record on economic issues is neo-liberal but better on questions of protection of human rights and environmental policy. During the last European Parliament, the Greens formed a confederal pact with the Free European Alliance — a small group of progressive nationalist parties from Wales, Scotland, Catalonia and the Basque Country. Together, this group tends towards the federalist wing of the political spectrum but on many social, economic and human rights issues, holds progressive and left leaning positions.

Following the election of Mary Lou McDonald and Bairbre de Brún to the parliament earlier this year, Sinn Féin joined the GUE/NGL group. Like the Greens/FEA, this group is also confederal. Formed in 1999, it brings together a broad range of left-wing political parties and individuals from almost every country in the EU. GUE/NGL is comprised essentially of two distinct groups who agree on many key issues and have agreed to disagree on others.

The GUE component of the group consists mainly of democratic socialist, communist and former communist parties from Continental Europe. The key players have been the French Communist Party, Refondiatizone Communista from Italy and the German Party of Democratic Socialism. However, there are also two parties from Portugal, two from Greece, and the Spanish Left Unity coalition.

Following EU enlargement, parties from the Czech Republic and Cyprus also joined.

The other component consists mainly of Left/Green parties from Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Holland. These parties share a common economic programme with the continental parties in terms of defending public services, opposing the increasing neo-liberal trend in the global economy and arguing against the increasing militarisation of international relations.

However, the Nordics differ from the continentals on issues of agriculture, nuclear power, and EU relations with former soviet republics.

However, like all generalisations, on many issues the positions of each party are more nuanced, and other alliances develop within the group or consensus is built. The crucial point to stress is that as a confederal group, GUE/NGL seeks to operate through consensus and when not possible, allows national delegations to make up their own minds and vote accordingly. This is in stark contrast to some of the larger groups, who impose a whip irrespective of the views of smaller delegations or countries.

The overall political programme of GUE/NGL is very similar to that of Sinn Féin. Each party has their own version of the equality agenda, arguing for public services to be based on need and equality rather than ability to pay. Likewise all parties are to the forefront of defending the increasing privatisation of schools, hospitals, transport and essential services such as water. In the international arena, GUE/NGL argues for dialogue before military intervention and opposed the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and the former Yugoslavia. Almost all parties actively work with social movements in their own countries, such as trade unions, the women's movement and environmental campaigns, and all see the development of the European and World Social Fora as positive developments.

GUE/NGL has a strong campaigning record in the parliament on a broad range of issues and views the European institutions as sites of social, economic and political struggle as much as bodies for policy formulation and implementation.

The welcome received by Sinn Féin from all of the component parts of GUE/NGL has been positive and encouraging and promises a good working relationship into the future.

Sinn Féin delegation visits Brussels

A 21-strong party delegation visited Brussels on 8 & 9 December. The group, comprised of activists from across the country representing the five Cúigí and the Leinster House and Assembly teams.

Hosted by GUE/NGL and Mary Lou McDonald, the trip was part fact-finding and part relationship building.

The morning was spent meeting with the Deputy General Secretary of the group, Stellan Hermannson, and his team of policy staff. Sinn Féin members discussed questions of civil and human rights, agriculture, economic policy, and the environment, to name a few, with the key researchers from GUE/NGL, who track the committees in the parliament. Speaking during these sessions, Dublin Councillor Daithí Doolan commented that as "up to 75% of all legislation coming through the Assembly and Leinster House has its origins within the EU institutions, having the opportunity to discuss it at the EU stage rather than the domestic stage will enable us to play a more decisive role in the policy process in future".

Following the policy discussions, the delegation received an official talk from the parliament on the internal institutional workings of the EU.

This was followed by a briefing from Mary Lou McDonald and the EU Department staff about ongoing work within the parliament. Mary Lou stressed the need "to connect the institutional work inside the EU to the day-to-day struggles at home.

"We need to use the EU as a platform to highlight republican concerns and, where possible, actively input into the policy process, whether it be on EU strategies for tackling drug misuse, for promoting human rights at home and abroad, or the ongoing battle against privatisation and in defence of public services."

Mary Lou also emphasised the need to engage with as broad a spectrum of political opinion as possible on the peace process, and to ensure that the views of nationalist and republican Ireland are placed at the centre of the debate on Ireland in Brussels and Strasbourg.

The day ended with a briefing from Eoin Ó Broin on the programme of work for the European Department and how best the Cúigí, Assembly and Leinster House and other party departments can best interact with the EU project as it evolves in the months ahead.

Speaking after the trip, Ard Chomhairle member and Meath Councillor Joe Reilly said "the delegation was a worthwhile exercise. It opened our eyes to the sheer scale of the EU institutions. However, we also go a clear sense of the opportunities which are available to promote our broad republican agenda in Europe and impact on the policy agenda at home through the parliamentary system in Brussels and Strasbourg."

Strasbourg In Brief

• Mary Lou and Bairbre attended a number of public hearings during the week, including an update from Palestine on the political situation following the death of Yasser Arafat.

• Mary Lou asked the European Commission, during an oral session, what they were doing about the case of the Colombia Three.

• Bairbre addressed the parliament on a report by Green MEP Jean Lambert on Asylum. She welcomed the report's stress on human rights and equality and opposition to racism and criminalisation of those seeking asylum. Sinn Féin voted for the Lambert Report.

• Mary Lou supported a report into developing EU-wide strategies for tackling drug smuggling and misuse. The report was an innovative attempt to combine treatment, rehabilitation, education, and judicial measures to develop a holistic and progressive approach to this complex problem. Sinn Féin supported the Catania report.

Other issues at this week's session included the budget for 2005, the opening of accession negotiations with Turkey and the future strategic priorities for the new European Commission. The next issue of An Phoblacht will feature a report on these issues.

An MEP's Diary - By Bairbre de Brun

The European Union and its institutions present two specific challenges to MEPs whose politics centre on the desire to challenge and change the status quo.

The first is how best to integrate campaigning and constituency work at home with the institutional and policy engagements in Brussels and Strasbourg. These cannot be seen as two distinct and competing areas of work, but rather they must complement and strengthen each other.

Equally important is the question of building credibility and making yourself relevant, both within the institutions and at home. For many years, MEPs from other political parties — whether they worked hard or little at all — were often seen as irrelevant or marginal to mainstream local or national politics. This was compounded by the lack of visibility from which many MEPs seemed to suffer.

Public perceptions of MEPs disappearing off on an EU gravy train, and real stories of corruption, compounded all of this.

Sinn Féin's approach to political institutions differs from that of other parties. We go into the various institutions to which we are elected as political activists, intent on utilising them as vehicles for change. They are never ends in themselves but tools in the ongoing campaigns for equality, justice and freedom in Ireland.

In European terms, we are not alone in this regard, and in my few short months here in Brussels and Strasbourg I have found many MEPs from across Europe who share our view. An Ireland of equals in a Europe of equals was an important election slogan, but here in the European Parliament it is a serious commitment of many MEPs and staff, with Ireland replaced by their own country of origin.

The last ten days possibly provide the best example to date of how Sinn Féin is working to integrate republican politics, constituency needs and the EU policy agenda.

Monday 6 December brought Mary Lou and myself to Derry to meet local community and business leaders in Derry and its hinterland in the Six and 26 Counties. As reported in last week's An Phoblacht, we heard of development plans to tackle the continuing infrastructural deficit in the Northwest. From our point of view we were listening, learning and exploring whether there would be ways to develop these important local initiatives with EU political and/or financial support. The engagements were positive and the start of an important political programme for Sinn Féin in this area.

Tuesday was back to the European Parliament in Brussels for the visit of 55 families affected by collusion. At a personal level this trip had a poignancy to it. For 30 years, the British Government has been involved actively in collusion with unionist paramilitaries with devastating effect. The emotional strength and personal dignity of the families was both remarkable and testament to the justness of their demands.

That some unionist and British Conservative MEPs could not bring themselves to realise this says more about their own past and politics than it does about the families.

Since the visit, I have spoken to some of those involved in the delegation and the support and warmth they received was a real boost to the families and the campaign more generally. I have also spoken to MEPs who want to do some further work on this issue.

Wednesday was also spent in the European Parliament in Brussels, divided between calls, meetings, correspondence and preparatory work for the Strasbourg session.

On Thursday it was back to Belfast for a series of engagements. Among them was a talk to students at St Mary's College, organised by Shinn Féin Coláiste Mhuire. The theme of the discussion was the role of young people in the struggle for Irish freedom. Colleges around the country are an important element in our ongoing outreach and with Sinn Féin's 100 anniversary approaching, it is fitting that Mary Lou and myself are set to tour many of the third level institutions speaking, among other topics, about the role of women in the struggle past, present and very definitely in the future.

Friday was spent in Donegal meeting with local people and projects. Here the focus was on developing facilities and services in the context of overcoming the major job losses in this Gaeltacht area.

And just in case that doesn't seem busy enough, Saturday was spent at the Ard Chomhairle discussing recent political developments in the peace process and listening to local reaction from around the country. Sunday came and it was back on a plane for Strasbourg for December's session of the European Parliament.