Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Deputy Dooley that self-praise is no praise. Happily, on this occasion, the country has received very good complimentary remarks from other member states and from the leadership of the EU institutions about the conduct of the Presidency. I am pleased that we successfully concluded most of the files we set out to conclude. There is a satisfaction in that and I join in what has been said in paying tribute to the officials in my Department, the Department of the Taoiseach and all Government Departments who were involved in what I think has been a successful Presidency. I took the opportunity last Thursday when I was in Brussels for the European Council meeting to talk with the staff in the permanent representation and to thank them on behalf of the Government for the outstanding work they undertook. I repeat that here and thank them, officials in my Department and the Department of Taoiseach and all of the officials who worked so hard not just over the past six months, but over the preceding period of time.

Deputies Wallace and Boyd Barrett had no comment at all to make about either the Presidency or the European Council meeting. Deputy Wallace focused his remarks on Mr. Snowden and Deputy Boyd Barrett focused his on the Anglo Irish Bank tapes. The only thing Deputy Adams could find to criticise was something we succeeded in achieving and Deputy Martin was less than generous, disappointingly so. I acknowledge that previous Presidencies were successful. This was the seventh. The country has a good reputation for running a Presidency. To some extent, that probably raised expectations for what we might achieve in the course of this Presidency.

Banking union is a good example of where we made more progress than many expected. Deputy Dooley referred to the decision made last June about the separation of bank and sovereign debt, which was one of those seminal decisions made by the EU. To give effect to that, we must first put in place the single supervisory mechanism. We got agreement on that. There was certainly comment that we would not get the banking recovery and resolution pillars agreed on and we succeeded in getting them agreed. We also succeeded in getting CRD4 agreed, which relates to bankers' bonuses, so very significant progress has been made on putting banking union in place. There was also an agreement that recapitalisation of banks by the ESM can apply retrospectively. From our perspective, that was a critical decision.

The case of Mr. Snowden was not the subject of a discussion at the European Council meeting. If they are true, the allegations that there had been such surveillance activity on EU institutions like the Justus Lipsius building and the EU embassy, both of which were mentioned, are a matter of very serious concern to all EU member states, including Ireland. The European External Action Service has sought clarification of the situation in Washington and Brussels.

It has been raised by the High Representative, Catherine Ashton, with the Secretary of State, John Kerry. President Obama has given an undertaking to provide all of the information which countries want in this respect. I would regard the use of surveillance equipment and tactics of this type, if it is true, as invasive and very serious interference with the sovereignty of countries and the collected sovereignty of the European Union. If it is true the Justus Lipsius building was bugged it would be the equivalent of the European Union bugging Capitol Hill. It is this serious and must be taken very seriously. The United States authorities have been asked for an explanation arising from what appeared in the media over the weekend. It is prudent that we await this information. I do not think anybody should be in any doubt about how serious a matter this is. It is a very serious matter. We regard it as serious and I believe all European Union member states regard it as serious.

Deputy Crowe raised the Palestinian issue. We had a discussion on this at the Foreign Affairs Council last week and work is being done. The Secretary of State, John Kerry, and the High Representative, Catherine Ashton, have been working on the issue and many discussions have taken place. It is intended to return to have a full discussion at the July Foreign Affairs Council when I hope further progress will have been made on the initiatives taken by the Secretary of State and the High Representative. I expect the labelling issue will form part of the discussion.

I had the honour of speaking at the accession of Croatia event in Zagreb on Sunday night and early Monday morning. It is very significant and welcome. It will have a positive impact on the region. It is also positive the decision was made, on the recommendation of the General Affairs Council, by the European Council to set a date for accession talks with Serbia and to proceed with the stabilisation and association agreement with Kosovo. This builds on the very positive work done by the leadership of both Serbia and Kosovo, with the assistance of the European External Action Service.

With regard to the Bosnia-Herzegovina issue, application for membership of the European Union and accession discussions are not something just driven by the European Union itself. Countries must step up to the mark themselves and must comply with the requirements for membership of the European Union. I had a brief discussion with the foreign Minister of Bosnia-Herzegovina on Sunday evening and I hope Bosnia-Herzegovina will make progress. The progress made in Croatia, Serbia and Kosovo will help increase momentum.

I should also mention progress was made at the General Affairs Council on the issue of Turkey and it has been decided to open a chapter in the negotiations with Turkey, namely, chapter 22, and the intergovernmental conference will take place later in the year.

The European Union is making a huge financial contribution to the humanitarian crisis and the problem of refugees in Syria and €1.25 billion has been committed to date. This is a very significant contribution by the European Union and the member states. The conclusions last Tuesday referred to the Geneva II talks which we want to see progressing. This is the only show in town in terms of getting a peaceful political settlement in Syria.

This covers the issues which have been raised and I thank all Members who contributed to the discussion.

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