Ana Miranda: the EPP MEPs have washed the face of the extreme right

JAYRO SANCHEZ

Ana Miranda is a Galician jurist and politician. She has been a deputy of the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG) in the European Parliament during the last legislature, and she is running again on the Ahora Repúblicas list for the elections that will renew it next Sunday. In 2019 this coalition - now made up of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), EH Bildu, the BNG and Aramés - won three seats. We spoke to her about the worrying challenges facing Europe and the rise of the far right.

You are the third on the Now Republics list. It is expected that the parties that will benefit the most in the elections will be the far-right ones. How should progressive forces confront this advance?

We are the representatives of the BNG in the common front of Ahora Repúblicas. Of course, we define ourselves as a left-wing and anti-fascist force that has a political trajectory in the streets, Parliament and some governments of the Spanish State.

We have a firm commitment to the defense of social justice and equality, and we are against the proposals of far-right forces. These have been insulting us as a people and society for a long time. Especially, to groups such as the working class, women or foreigners.

They are incapable of understanding the diversities and differences that characterize us, and only know how to reveal their lack of arguments through the fake news and hate crimes. I think what needs to be done is to fight them from the European Parliament with the voices of the leftist parties that defend just causes.

A few years ago, the rise of groups such as the National Group, Vox or Brothers of Italy in the institutions of the European Union seemed impossible. The traditional right still maintained its hegemony over the conservative voting grounds and exploited its more radical colleagues to achieve its own objectives. How is it possible that you now compete with them?

The problem is that the MEPs of the Popular Party (PP) and their colleagues in Europe have whitewashed individuals like Hermann Tertsch or Jorge Buxadé. Unfortunately, members of the "Iberosphere" have a lot of influence and impunity.

But I, as a representative of the BNG voters, have intervened in the European Parliament to denounce the aggressive policies that, for example, Matteo Salvini has implemented against the rights of women or those of migrants.

I have also been the author of the resolution on the advance of neo-fascism on our continent, and I have condemned the whitewashing policies of organizations such as the Falange Foundation or the Francisco Franco Foundation. We cannot allow there to be undemocratic, homophobic, racist, sexist or xenophobic institutions in the European Union.

The reform of the Asylum and Migration Pact that was approved last February has been one of the most controversial measures taken by the EU in recent times. Amnesty International states that “suffering will increase at every step of the journey for those seeking” refuge in Europe. Can this new legislation guarantee security and respect for the human rights of migrants?

We believe not, and that is why we have voted against it.

A few weeks ago, the newspaper El País and Lighthouse Reports published an investigation revealing that the European Union was already externalizing its borders before the approval of the agreement. It did so by financing Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania to get rid of sub-Saharan migrants who want to reach our shores.

It's true. I have been in the Calais refugee camps and I have seen with my own eyes, from the deck of one of the Open Arms ships that was sailing in the border waters with Libya, how they intended to deter the boats that were trying to rescue the migrants. lost in the waters of the Mediterranean.

We cannot support policies that externalize borders, create checkpoints in detention centers and allow sudden returns. We have to denounce what is happening.

Mrs Ursula von der Leyen, the EPP, the European Socialist Party (PES) and the center and extreme right groups have given their approval to this pact. They don't care if it goes against human rights.

The representatives of the BNG and other deputies believe that the migration regulations of the European Union have to adapt to the standards recommended by the United Nations (UN), and that they cannot be like those that the European Guard Agency Borders and Coasts (Frontex) has been carrying out.

Another pending issue for Europe is the war in Ukraine. Countries like Turkey and Brazil have offered to mediate to end it, but other states have reintroduced mandatory military service and are investing a lot of money in developing their war capabilities. What solutions does the EU propose to end the conflict?

We want to use diplomatic channels so that Russia and Ukraine can resolve their dispute in a cooperative and peaceful manner, as requested by the UN. What happens is that there are certain actors who have a great interest in keeping the fight fueled.

The European Parliament has just approved the Ammunition Act and the increase in military spending. Germany, which is the one that influences the community institutions through Mrs. Von der Leyen, is pushing for the money that should be allocated to finance cohesion and territorial development policies to be spent on bullets.

This year, the European Union has increased its military budget by 30%. But the Spanish Government, which claims to be left-wing, has raised its rate by 23%. We do not agree with these measures. We want a Europe of peace, not war. And we know that the more money you pay to buy weapons, the less you can invest in schools, pensions and housing.

The new escalation experienced in Palestine is another important problem in which the EU plays a fundamental role. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants against Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three senior Hamas officials. What consequences could the decision of your judges have?

They will surely be relevant, although I think that not only Netanyahu should be prosecuted in the International Criminal Court. The European Union should speak out about what is happening in that region of the world, but it is too influenced by Zionism.

In fact, it has a cacophonous attitude dictated by the voices of the president of the European Commission, Von der Leyen, and the high representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell. She has been a champion of Israel from the beginning, and has managed to establish a policy towards Palestine that seems completely wrong to me.

Spain, Norway and Ireland have recently recognized the Palestinian state. Could this fact drive any change in the European bloc's position regarding the conflict?

This step has been important, but we must do more. We should break our diplomatic relations with this country and the trade association agreement we have signed with it, as well as condemn the genocide. The BNG MEPs and other groups managed to get Parliament to also issue a resolution calling for a ceasefire.

However, despite the pressure we have exerted to condemn the genocide from this very instance, the right and a part of the socialist deputies have prevented it.

Anyway, we can do more things. We demand that the resolutions approved to prevent the export of products stolen in Israeli colonies be complied with, and that the recommendations issued by the United Nations begin to be observed.

Furthermore, we want, since Israel does not allow certain political representatives to enter there to find out what is happening, the presidents of the Commission and the Parliament of the European Union, Mrs. Von der Leyen and Mrs. Roberta Metzola, prohibit the entry of their sent in our institutions.

The members of the EU seem to have no common position on almost any issue. Above all, when it comes to the reaction to climate change. Several projects have been activated to implement a green revolution that allows environmental sustainability to be achieved. To what extent can the ban on the sale of internal combustion vehicles and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2023-2027 be effective?

Indeed, we are in a moment in which we have to choose between war and peace, social spending and austerity, racism and equality, feminism and machismo...

The CAP has been one of the great debates that have taken place within us. The various right-wing parties and large landowners want to prevent the European Union from launching more fair and equitable agricultural policies. We defend that the granting of agricultural aid be carried out based on the criterion of territorial distribution and not that of productivity. In Galiza, there are producers who receive a third less than what their French, German or southern Spanish counterparts receive.

Regarding the issue of combustion vehicles, the climate urgency demands changes from us. But these cannot be drastic, there has to be a reasonable adaptation. We have to think about the European automotive industry, which is very important.

On the other hand, we must legislate to put an end to other polluting substances, such as those produced by industries or pellets. Efforts must be redoubled to strengthen water sanitation facilities and expand the Natura Network. And support the policies and those who execute them, which are often the smaller town councils and territories.

The European Union is full of talk about the green pact, although it then allows itself to invest in weapons and polluting technologies, which demonstrates the hypocrisy of some of its representatives.

Jayro sanchez is a Spanish journalist.