Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We will take some more questions first. CAP and the issue of unemployment are issues at which we will look during our Presidency. I will give a very quick overview of the priorities of the Presidency.

The first is the restoration of stability within Europe. Key for us is making progress on the issue of banking union and bedding down the European semester. The second is to secure agreement on the budget; therefore, the multi-annual financial framework is of key importance to us, particularly, as Deputy Timmy Dooley said, the CAP, on which we want to ensure there is agreement, as well as on the multi-annual financial framework, as quickly as possible in the first few months of our Presidency. The other key aspect is human rights in order that there will be a human rights dimension to the Presidency. Perhaps most important, we will be pushing forward with an economic growth and job creation agenda. We will be looking at full implementation of the Single Market Act, the digital and the blue economy which the Cypriots have been prioritising in the past few months, and trying to make it easier to create jobs, particularly for younger people. When we last spoke in Cyprus, we discussed Latvia's efforts four or five years ago to generate more employment and start more businesses. We spoke about how Latvia had reduced bureaucracy to make it easier for people to set up businesses. Perhaps these efforts might be outlined to other committee members.