The Hypocrisy of the EU on Ukraine

The EU Is Playing a Dangerous Game in Ukraine

An interview with Irish member of the European Parliament Clare Daly 

By James W. Carden

This June, the European Parliament overwhelmingly voted to approve Ukraine's candidacy for membership in the European Union. Only days before, the EU- and NATO- member state Lithuania enacted a blockade of Russia's Eastern European enclave, Kaliningrad. Meantime, Russia's military gains in eastern Ukraine have been met with ever more promises of Western aid for Ukraine. To discuss these and other developments, on June 23rd, James W. Carden spoke with Clare Daly, a courageous and outspoken member of the European Parliament from Ireland, and a stalwart opponent of the trans-Atlantic militarist consensus that has both Washington and the European Parliament in Brussels firmly in its grip. 

James W. Carden: Clare, thanks for taking the time to talk. Our timing is, depending on how you look at it, either very good or very bad, as news reaches us here in the US that this afternoon in Brussels the European Parliament voted in favor of Ukraine's candidacy for the European Union. The vote was 529 votes in favor, 45 against, and 14 abstentions. You and your party, the left-wing Independents4Change, abstained. Can you explain why, and what you think of the timing of the vote?

Clare Daly, MEP: Our point of view is if people from Ukraine or anywhere else want to join the European Union, and that's a free choice decided by the majority, and it's done on terms that don't bankrupt its populations, well, then that's a matter for them. Of course, that's not what's on the table at the moment. The vote is being...