There was to be no casual stroll through Cork’s English Market for Ursula von der Leyen to have her Queen Elizabeth moment.
Maybe it was for the best. The European Commission president would not have enjoyed being taken to task by a fishmonger or a passing Corkonian over the European Union’s record on Gaza.
She’s a politician who likes to be in control and is not a fan of the unscripted. Her schedule during a visit to Ireland marking the beginning of the country’s six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union included a welcome at Cork City Hall and a tour of the Tyndall National Institute’s “deep tech” research centre and semiconductor lab.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin showed von der Leyen around his alma mater, University College Cork (UCC), on Friday.
She was joined by the 26 EU commissioners, the “college”, who make up the political leadership in Brussels, the union’s powerful executive that proposes laws.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Taoiseach Micheál Martin in University College Cork on Friday. Photograph: Paul Faith/PA Wire
It is a tradition for the member state taking on the rotating EU presidency to invite the commissioners for a visit. The UCC grounds hosted a jumbo Irish Cabinet-college of commissioners meeting, which they described as a plenary. It all had the feeling of a corporate away day.
Ministers and commissioners broke up into smaller huddles to chat about what is coming up on the EU agenda during the Irish presidency, which will see the State play a deal-making role until the end of the year.
There had to be a group photograph taken of the occasion. The Taoiseach will have been delighted that the sun was out as everyone was ushered into position on the UCC campus quadrangle. Martin neglected to warn his visitors that it is seen as bad luck to stand on the grass there unless you have graduated.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Taoiseach Micheál Martin with officials during a plenary session. Photograph: EPA
One by one the Ministers and EU commissioners took their spots on a small set of steps constructed for the shot. Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill was having a great chat with defence commissioner Andrius Kubilius.
Minister of State for European Affairs Thomas Byrne has pinballed across the Continent over recent months, meeting representatives of other governments in preparation for the presidency. It was only right he joined the get-together.
They were just missing Martin and von der Leyen, who strode out last and took their spots in the centre.
“Always late,” joked commissioner for equality Hadja Lahbib as the commission president and the Taoiseach joined them.
It was not all brainstorming breakout sessions. The Irish politicians got to let their hair down the evening before. It’s believed Costigan’s and Rearden’s bar featured.
A night out like that every now and again does wonders for inter-party relations in a Coalition Government.
Micheál Martin and Ursula von der Leyen outside the ‘President’s Office’ at University College Cork. Photograph: Paul Faith/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
“I hope that you and your commission will remember with fondness your visit to the beautiful city of Cork,” Martin told von der Leyen during a press conference wrapping things up.
The journalists got an idea of what the German politician might have said, had a man on the street challenged her about the EU’s failure to sanction Israel.
“No one does more than us,” she said, referring to the EU’s financial support to the Palestinian people.
The continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories was “utterly unacceptable”, von der Leyen said in response to a question.
The commission president committed to soon table an “options paper” on possible EU-level actions to curb or ban trade coming from illegal settlements.
[ EU presidency comes with opportunity – but also opportunity costOpens in new window ]
There was a finger clearly pointed at the union’s 27 governments as well.
Von der Leyen said her commission had proposed suspending an EU-Israel free trade deal 10 months ago in response to the country’s two-year bombardment of Gaza. The proposal never garnered the required weighted majority among national capitals to be approved.
“The ball is in the court of the member states,” she added.