Irish politician Michael D. Higgins of the Labour Party. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“What oft was thought, but ne’er so well expressed”

I must say I never had a lot of time for Michael D Higgins. I did vote for him in the recent Irish Presidential Election but mainly because of the appalling panel of six opponents that he faced, ranging from a one issue Republican (not the American type, for those not in the know, but the born-again IRA type), to an ex-Eurovision singer with a right wing agenda. “Michael D” as he is affectionately known (is there a “Michael C”??)   has been hanging around politics with an Arts/Crafts – Left wing agenda for most of his life. He was the safer option. Although he is a well known orator, he had certainly never inspired me. I general found him insipid, and what the Irish would call “aeery faerie” – insubstantial and irrelevant. He went on to replace two fairly hard hitting Presidents, Mary Robinson, and Mary Mc Aleese, both of whom have made substantial contributions to world politics and society, way beyond the narrow confines of the titular position that is the Irish Presidency. Michael D. was generally believed to be a weak substitute.

However, Michael D. has proved me and others very wrong in our opinions and if he were ever to read this blog, he can take it as a public apology for my prior held unsubstantiated opinions. Last week in an address that brought the European Parliament to its feet (an achievement in itself), he set out a vision of Europe that has not been articulated for decades. A vision of a society that is not to be judged through the narrow prism of fiscal rectitude, but of a society that has a broader vision of what it is and what it wants to achieve. A foretaste of this powerful speech is quoted below

A European Union – if it is to be respected as the great project it is and can be – must draw on the intellectual heritage and the intellectual imaginings, and the existing talents and capacity of the peoples of Europe. It is a fully authentic Union if it is characterised by solidarity.

If it is not of this authentic character just now, it must be made so by changes in consciousness and commitment, and through reasserting the idealism, intellectual strength and moral courage that drove the founding fathers of the Union. European Member States are peoples, with history, with current needs, with possibilities to be shared.

If we were, as an alternative, to regard our people as dependent variables to the opinions of rating agencies, agencies unaccountable to any demos, and indeed found to be fallible on occasion, then instead of being citizens we would be reduced to the status of mere consumers; pawns in a speculative chess board of fiscal moves in a game derived from assumptions that are weak, untestable or more frequently undeclared.

If you want more please  READ THE WHOLE SPEECH

or better still watch it: –   Michael D Higgins addresses the European Parliament

Congratulations Michael D. – your latest fan!