<p>Eoin Drea is a senior researcher at the Wilfried Martens Centre, the official think tank of the European People’s Party (of which Fine Gael is a member), and an occasional contributor to the opinion pages of The Irish Times, where he is often critical of Ireland’s approach to Europe.&nbsp;</p><br><p>Recently he wrote that “Ireland’s recent hissy fit at not being invited to a pre-<a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/european-union/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">EU</a>&nbsp;summit meeting in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/belgium/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Belgium</a>&nbsp;speaks volumes as to where Dublin ranks in the minds of our fellow EU members”.&nbsp;</p><br><p>On today’s podcast he talks to Hugh about how Ireland’s influence in Europe has declined, why he believes Ireland’s political discourse around Europe is naive and lacking strategic depth and what “two-speed” EU development could look like - with or without Ireland as a key player.&nbsp;He also talks about how Ireland is viewed as being "in the pocket of the US multinationals".</p><p>Would you like to receive daily insights into world events delivered to your inbox? Sign up for Denis Staunton's Global Briefing newsletter here: <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/newsletters/global-briefing/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">irishtimes.com/newsletters/global-briefing/</a></p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>