DUP says SDLP proposal is ‘nonsense’
At a Belfast City Council committee meeting, the DUP accused the SDLP of running the Brexit argument over again over a proposal for external funding(Image: Belfast Live)
Belfast City Hall has seen bitter exchanges over moves to try and access more EU funding for the city.
At a Belfast City Council committee meeting, the DUP accused the SDLP of running the Brexit argument over again over a proposal for external funding.
SDLP Councillor Séamas de Faoite made a successful proposal for the council to look into “pre-accession assistance,” which countries who are attempting to join the EU may receive.
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A total of 12 councillors at the council’s May meeting of its Strategic Policy and Resources Committee voted in favour of the proposal, from Sinn Féin, Alliance, the SDLP and the Green Party. Four councillors voted against it, all from the DUP. The decision will go to the full council next week for ratification, where it is expected to pass.
The Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance, or IPA, prepares nations for EU membership. It financially and technically supports candidates and potential candidate countries in reforming their societies, economies, and legal systems, to meet what is known as the “Copenhagen criteria.”
Seven countries are currently availing of the IPA. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey. Assistance includes grant schemes, technical assistance, sector budget support, and major infrastructure and regional investments.
At the council committee meeting, Councillor de Faoite said: “I’m not going to rehash any arguments in terms of Brexit, the Windsor Framework or anything else like that. But what I am saying is that there is an opportunity here for Belfast as a council, and for our region in general.
“The Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance provided by the European Union roughly sets aside around about 14 billion euros for support to countries that sit in the pre-accession phase in terms of EU membership. We of course are in a very unique position, through both the nature of the Good Friday Agreement and also the Windsor Framework, of being the only place that has an automatic right to access back into the European Union.
“So effectively we are slightly further beyond pre-accession. In relation to the single market and other EU regulations we are already very deeply entwined with the European union on so many different fronts.
“But one we are unfortunately not, is with funding. There are seven themes under which the IPA provides financial support to countries in the pre-accession phase, and looks at a range of different things from the rule-of-law and fundamental rights of democracy to competitiveness and inclusive growth, to sustainable connectivity and good governance.”
He added: “But this is an opportunity I think for us to look at ways in which we can try to draw further support from the EU.” He asked the council to write to the European Commission and the British and Irish governments for Northern Ireland to be considered for access to the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance.
DUP Councillor Bradley Ferguson said at the meeting: “We don’t want to rehash anything, but we’ll rehash everything anyway. Come on here.
“I am having a meeting with directors this afternoon to try and get the bins emptied, and you are talking about writing to the government on rejoining the EU. Let’s be realistic here, and let’s get back to the absolute basics. It is a nonsense Séamas – if we are to go through this again, it will be through a referendum, which will be decided by the government.
“So rather than wasting our time on this nonsense, let’s waste time on things we need to get right, things around parks and bins. Delivering for people, instead of the nonsense and grandstanding, that goes on at this committee and at the full council.”
DUP Councillor Ian McLaughlin said: “Séamas I admire the sentiment, but at the end of the day, the United Kingdom took a vote to leave Europe, and the UK government will decide whether processes such as this will take place again. I am not disputing the fact you are quite entitled to your opinion, but it is a decision way above the paygrade of this council, and I think it is sheer folly to entertain it at the current moment.”
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