Mcguinness welcomes merkel to parliament

Mairead McGuinness MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the European Parliament, Strasbourg this week. The Chancellor met MEPs at a special meeting of the EPP Group, to which Fine Gael is aligned, before making an historic joint address to the European Parliament with French President Francois Hollande. It was the first such joint address by German and French leaders since 1989 when when President François Mitterrand and Chancellor Helmut Kohl debated the end of the Cold War with MEPs.

'Chancellor Merkel spoke of the need for solidarity and understanding and for courage in pursuing our goals in other areas of EU policy,' Ms McGuinness said.

'She also highlighted the success of Ireland in exiting the EU-IMF bailout programme and spoke of how countries can emerge from the economic crisis, having implemented economic reforms.

'A great deal of our discussion centred on the ongoing refugee crisis, to which the Chancellor paid particular attention to. Importantly she stressed that Europe must face globalisation and solve these issues in a truly integrated manner. Walls and fences will not save Europe. Solidarity and teamwork will help to fight the root causes of the problem, according to the Chancellor,' MEP McGuinness added.