Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is part of the issue. I apologise for upsetting the Acting Chairman. Perhaps it will be the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, or, if reports are to be believed, the Tánaiste is pushing for the same role. This highlights problems with how we select the Commissioner. It is part of the debate on how we see Europe. We had been discussing the President of the Commission and the debate has now moved on to who will be the Commissioner. This is the context in which I raised it.

Many groups and individuals, including Sinn Féin, would like to see reform of the process through which Ireland's Commissioner is selected It would be a positive debate and perhaps we can have it at some stage. It is part of how we think Europe should develop. We would like to see open and democratic debate on who should represent Ireland on the Commission, rather than a handful of people around the Cabinet table taking the decision. I would like to see it opened up, and a debate on this would be positive. Most people would look forward to it and we could talk about the merits or demerits of the candidates. Does the Government agree that a more transparent process would help reduce the democratic deficit of Commissioners being appointed by the national parliaments of member states? It is a viable question and perhaps the Minister of State will reply. They should be compelled to regularly report back to their national parliaments. This would be a positive step. I know they are not elected by a specific parliament, but it is important to have such interaction between national parliaments and the Commission. This would probably require a treaty change but in the interest of improving public confidence in the EU institutions, and we know there is a big gap in this regard, it is an issue worth considering and may lead to a greater and more inclusive debate on Europe.

The consensus on austerity and the European semester continued at this European Council meeting. I did not get a sense of what happened from the Taoiseach's speech. I agree with Deputy Martin that we do not get feedback. Certainly I do not understand many of the ins and outs. We do not understand what position Ireland takes on many matters. The Taoiseach mentioned Ukraine and we do not know what position Ireland has adopted or what proposals we are putting forward. Perhaps this debate is useful for us, as we get coverage, but people listening at home do not get a sense of what actually happened. This is a problem and is part of the disconnect. I looked at some of the media coverage of the European Parliament. Perhaps more time is given to issues and there are questions and answers, but one gets more of a sense of an issue, which we do not get from this debate.

It is clear that momentum is gathering to re-examine the austerity rules which have proved so ineffective and damaging to many countries and to the idea of a social Europe. We welcome the announcement that the Italian and French Prime Ministers have called for a relaxation of the budget rules. It is positive that this debate is taking place in Europe. We are approaching our budget in October, and the EU Commission continues to insist on a €2 billion cut to keep on-side with the rules. We all feel we need to move away from this. It is in Ireland’s interests that these rules are relaxed. Ireland and Europe cannot afford more years of sticking to rigid and severe austerity demands. This is not just coming from Ireland but from throughout Europe, including from groups in Germany and other countries perceived to be doing well. People are asking for the approach to this to be re-examined. Did the Taoiseach take a stance with those in favour of fairer and less harsh rules and against those who are wedded to strict implementation of austerity rules or did he continue to support the direction in which Europe has been going which has been so disastrous for many people? This is a very important debate and I believe the Government must side with the movement against the harsh and binding austerity rules. If the Taoiseach is not willing to lead can he at least follow the lead taken by other countries?

I mentioned Ukraine and on Friday the EU signed an association agreement with Ukraine. I welcome that democratic elections took place and that a new Government has been formed.

It was also heartening to see a ceasefire negotiated between the government and different groups involved in the conflict. Sadly that ceasefire expired yesterday and attacks continued on both sides. It is important all sides and international actors, particularly from the European Union, renew their efforts to work towards finding an inclusive and lasting peace process. We would all collectively agree in the South that that is the way forward. Getting those parties to sit down at the table is critical and is the only way we will solve that problem.

The UN reports more than 400 people have been killed in Donetsk and some 110,000 people have fled to Russia while a further 54,000 have been displaced within Ukraine. The Ukrainian people have suffered under corrupt and ineffective governments for too long. It is accepted that there have been difficulties in the past. The result has been a deterioration in socioeconomic conditions and the effective bankruptcy of the state. I probably disagree with Deputy Martin; in my opinion some of the recent problems in Ukraine stem from the EU, US and Russia playing a zero-sum geopolitical game with Ukraine. Much of this negotiation took place in the middle of winter which is a bad time to be negotiating, particularly in that region.

I am under no illusion of Russia’s self-interest in this region and its reasons for its recent behaviour, but I feel the EU has to do more to find an inclusive solution to this spiralling crisis.

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