Luke Ming Flanagan: Trump, Fuel VAT and Food Security
MEP Luke Ming Flanagan delivers a forceful parliamentary address blaming Donald Trump for distracting policymakers and calls for immediate action on fuel VAT, nitrates rules and long-term food security. He urges American politicians to impeach and presses the EU to pursue strategic autonomy on fertiliser, energy and protein production.
Luke Ming Flanagan directly accuses Donald Trump of trying to cover up serious wrongdoing and says that distraction from that alleged cover-up has brought European debate off course. He tells the chamber the number one thing to do is appeal to American politicians to impeach.
Flanagan outlines immediate policy steps: review minimum VAT rates on fuels and revisit the nitrates directive to ensure natural fertiliser can be used if needed. He frames these as quick interventions to address pressing supply and cost problems.
He challenges the current focus of strategic autonomy on military hardware and argues it should instead apply to how the EU fertilises crops, secures energy through electrification, and produces proteins. He also calls for realistic livestock planning so animals can be fed from domestic land.
The MEP warns Ireland and the EU must plan together rather than be left to react. He recalls promises that integration would allow collective action and urges policymakers to design concrete plans for food, energy and fertiliser resilience.
Immediate demand for impeachment
Luke Ming Flanagan directly accuses Donald Trump of trying to cover up serious wrongdoing and says that distraction from that alleged cover-up has brought European debate off course. He tells the chamber the number one thing to do is appeal to American politicians to impeach.
Short-term measures proposed
Flanagan outlines immediate policy steps: review minimum VAT rates on fuels and revisit the nitrates directive to ensure natural fertiliser can be used if needed. He frames these as quick interventions to address pressing supply and cost problems.
Long-term strategy: strategic autonomy
He challenges the current focus of strategic autonomy on military hardware and argues it should instead apply to how the EU fertilises crops, secures energy through electrification, and produces proteins. He also calls for realistic livestock planning so animals can be fed from domestic land.
Ireland, the EU and planning ahead
The MEP warns Ireland and the EU must plan together rather than be left to react. He recalls promises that integration would allow collective action and urges policymakers to design concrete plans for food, energy and fertiliser resilience.
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Transcript
Thank you very much. In order to get out of a place where you don't want to be, you've got to work out how you've got there in the first place. And this one word will explain exactly why we are here today, and that is Trump. Donald Trump. If Donald Trump wasn't trying to cover up for the fact that he is a paedophile, we wouldn't be dealing with this, because this man will do absolutely anything to take attention away from the sort of monster that he is. And unfortunately, we are now paying the price. So the number one thing we could do here today is to appeal to American politicians to impeach, impeach, impeach. He is the person who has brought us here. Immediately, what can we do? Because this problem needs to be dealt with immediately. We need to look at rules around minimum VAT rates on fuels. We also need to look at, as a previous speaker mentioned, the nitrates directive. If there is an issue with spreading natural fertilizer, which we're going to potentially have to depend upon, we need to do something about that. We also need to look more long term, as many of the previous speakers have said. And at the beginning of this mandate, and with the election of this commission, we heard the two-word phrase strategic autonomy. But the only thing we have striven for strategic autonomy on, as far as I can see, is producing the weapons of death, guns, bombs, tanks, and military stuff. What we should be looking at is strategic autonomy when it comes to how we fertilize our crops, strategic autonomy when it comes to energy through electrification, strategic autonomy when it comes to the production of our proteins, and to be realistic when we set livestock levels so they can actually be fed off our land. Because ultimately, what we have found is we are on our own. Ireland joined the European Union and we were told the positives was we could do more together. We could actually do everything together if we concentrated on it and made a plan and did it. Because whether we want to do it or not, we are going to have to do it, so we're as well to plan for it.