Dominic's Blog

Planning for the 2019 Europen Elections was a central part of this month’s PES Conference in Lisbon. Of particular importance were the discussions on choosing the joint candidate for President of the European Commission (the Spitzenkandidat") and the debate on how the UK seats in the parliament are divvied up, post Brexit. The legal basis for the Spitzenkandidat was put brought about by an amendment to the  Treaty on European Union  by the  Treaty of Lisbon , which came into force on 1 December 2009. The amendment added the wording "taking into account the elections to the European Parliament", so that Article 17.7 now included the wording: "Taking into account the elections to the European Parliament and after having held the appropriate consultations, the European Council, acting by a qualified majority, shall propose to the European Parliament a candidate for President of the Commission." In advance of the 2014 elections each of the main Europe

Should the Irish & UK Labour Parties run candidates in the North of Ireland? That’s a question that we are asked regularly. It’s an issue which has been debated at party conferences both here and in the UK. I spoke to the UK Labour Party Conference two years ago on the issue. Up to now the view of both Labour Parties has against running candidates. We have a sister party in the north, the SDLP, and to field candidates against them was not something we wanted to do. Of course this approach has not been welcomed by the Northern Irish Labour Party (the NILP). They don't think their home is in the SDLP. As they pointed out in their recent pamphlet on the issue they consider the SDLP to be agnostic to trade union links, nationalist in terms of their community designation at Stormont and weak on the equality issues of a woman's right to choose and same-sex marriage. The SDLP response is that they are changing their position in relation to the above, and that NILP members