Joe Higgins - Socialist candidate for Dublin in the European elections

dublin | politics / elections | news report Tuesday April 13, 2004 15:21 by Indy reader - none

Dublin Euro election hots up as Higgins puts hat in ring

Joe Higgins has announced thathe will stand in the upcoming Euro elections in the Dublin area. Also running from the left are Sinn Fein's Mary Lou McDonald and the Green Party's Patricia McKenna MEP. The SWP are rumoured to be still considering standing Richard Boyd Barrett in the Euro election. From the establishment parties, FF are running two candidates, Labour also are running two, Fine Gael on and the PD's are still considering whether or not to stand. Below is an edited version of a statement on the SP site.

Joe Higgins, Socialist Party TD for Dublin West, will be the Socialist Party's candidate in the European election for the Dublin constituency.

The Socialist Party will fight the election on the general theme of the need to build a democratic, socialist Europe where the needs of working people come before the ruthless drive for profits by the multinational corporations. In particular, we stand against the privatisation agenda of the E.U. Commission, that is fully accepted by the FF/PD Government. The privatisation of our telecom industry shows graphically what privatisation is all about.

In many E.U. countries at present, there is a systematic attack on the pension rights of public sector workers. The Irish Government has just recently pushed though legislation that means workers like teachers and civil servants will not be able to get a pension until they are 65, no matter how many years' service they have.

Joe Higgins will raise the drive toward the militarisation of the EU as a crucial issue. Scandalously, the Irish Government is currently overseeing the co-ordination of an E.U. armaments industry as part of its Presidency of the E.U. Obscenely 55 billion euro is spent by E.U. Governments each year in the manufacture of weapons.