Mr. John Murphy:

I thank the Chairman for the invitation to discuss my Department's six-monthly report to the Oireachtas on EU developments. My colleagues have already been introduced. I will broadly introduce the key legislative and policy developments that accord to the various Council formations during the six-month period January to June 2012, which is the period covered by the statement. The report covers three Councils that fall within the remit of my Department, the Competitiveness Council, the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council, commonly known as EPSCO, and the Foreign Affairs Trade Council.

It is important to note that the Competitiveness Council has a broad cross-cutting remit which covers the Internal Market, industry, research and space. While my Department takes the lead on this Council, given the wide sectoral issues involved, a number of files fall under the remit of other Departments. During the period of this report, the Council met on three occasions under the Danish Presidency. Many of the dossiers discussed at the Councils during that period are ongoing. Many are still being discussed at Council and we hope that they will be progressed during the Irish Presidency.

My Department is playing a central role during our Presidency in driving the EU policy agenda embodied in the overarching policy theme of promoting sustainable economic growth and jobs and building Europe's competitive advantage. As Presidency, Ireland is focusing on measures to promote growth and employment in accordance with the "Compact for growth and jobs", as agreed by Heads of State and Government in June 2012. The Presidency is placing a strong emphasis on advancing proposals that can boost the EU's competitive edge globally and add greatest value to jobs, growth, competitiveness and investment. I will now address the specific areas that were covered in our six-monthly report through each of the Council formations.

The Competitiveness Council reached an agreement on the essential elements of the competitiveness and SMEs programme - it is called the COSME programme - for the years 2014-2020 with a planned budget of €2.5 billion, which is the current figure. The aim of this programme is to strengthen the competitiveness and sustainability of EU enterprises, and to encourage an entrepreneurial culture, promoting the creation and growth of SMEs.

The Council held an orientation debate on draft regulations concerning European Venture Capital Funds and European Social Entrepreneurship Funds. The proposals are part of the set of 12 Single Market Act 1, SMA1, proposals and are a sub-set of the Commission's action plan to improve access to finance to SMEs.

In the are of state aid, the Council took note of a presentation by Commissioner Almunia on the Commission communication regarding the modernisation of the state aid policy, which was published in May 2012. The communication outlines an integrated strategy for reform of state aid policy. We endorse the objectives set out by the Commission on the modernisation of state aid, the principle of a more proportionate and differentiated approach to application-enforcement of the state aid regime, and we look forward to a more simplified and speedy transparent approach to state aid procedures.

In the priority areas of the Single Market Act, SMA, the Council provided a political orientation on the modernisation of public procurement policy and on the revision of the recognition of professional qualifications. The Council also adopted Conclusions on the governance of the Single Market and the Digital Single Market.

In the area of smart regulation, the Council conclusions at the February Council focused on a future smart regulation agenda with a strong end-user focus. The conclusions called on the Commission to further improve the smart regulation agenda by, among other matters, keeping end users, business - especially SMEs and micro-enterprises - consumers and public administrations in mind and involving them in evaluations of regulation in order to identify unnecessary burdens.

In the area of consumer issues, the objective of the proposal for a directive on alternative dispute resolution, ADR, together with the proposal for a regulation on online dispute resolution, ODR, is to provide for simple, fast and affordable out-of-court settlement procedures for resolving disputes between consumers and traders arising from the sales of goods and services through the intervention of an independent dispute resolution entity. The proposals depend directly on each other and have to be seen and dealt with as one package. The Council agreed a general approach on both of these proposals in May 2012.

Furthermore, the Commission published its Communication on a European Consumer Agenda called Boosting Confidence and Growth on 22 May 2012. The communication sets out four main objectives and identifies key measures needed to empower consumers so as to ensure that consumers are put at the heart of all EU policies.

A debate on a draft directive aimed at improving the system of recognition of professional qualifications with the purpose of facilitating the mobility of skilled workers across the EU was held by the Council. The proposal envisages the creation of a European professional card as well as measures designed to more effectively exploit existing instruments.

The modernisation of the public procurement policy in the EU was the subject of an orientation debate. The three proposals for modernising public procurement are: a draft directive setting up the new legislative framework; a draft directive on procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services; and a draft directive on the award of concession contracts.

The Council also took note of a Presidency report on the progress achieved concerning the reform of the public procurement legal framework. Much of the discussion focused on two key subjects: the use of electronic systems in public procurement - e-procurement; and the governance and monitoring of the procurement procedure.

In May, Council Ministers addressed the last outstanding issue in the draft agreement for the creation of a unified patent court, with a view to finalising the patent package. The debate showed that further work was needed to reach consensus on the location of the central division of the Court of First Instance for the future unitary patent jurisdiction.

In December 2011 the Council and the Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the two draft regulations implementing enhanced co-operation in the area of unitary patent protection. We are hopeful of finalising the necessary legislative instruments and to fully implementing the unitary patent and the unified patent court which will be of significant benefit in lowering costs for enterprises in Europe seeking to obtain blanket patent protection in the European Union by virtue of one application.

In the area of company law, the Commission presented linked audit proposals towards the end of 2011 - a proposal for a directive amending Directive 2006/43/EC on statutory audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts, and a regulation on specific requirements regarding statutory audit of public-interest entities. Both of these were discussed at the Council with a view to progressing the technical work required on these legislative proposals. It is intended that the proposals address the deficiencies in the audit area perceived by the Commission as having been uncovered by the global financial crisis.

In the field of research and innovation, the advancement of the Horizon 2020, which is the European funding programme for research and innovation for the period 2014-2020, is on-going. During the Danish Presidency, the Competitiveness Council agreed a partial general approach - pending agreement of the multi-annual financial framework - on the overarching Horizon 2020 Framework Regulation.

There are two European Institute for Innovation and Technology, EIT, Commission proposals being considered at EU level as part of the Horizon 2020 package of proposals. In line with the Action Plan for Jobs, we will pursue funding and other opportunities under EU Horizon 2020 for specific sectoral activities of national importance.

On space, the Council held an exchange of views on the implementation of the space flagship programme GMES, which is the European Earth Monitoring Programme, from the year 2014 onwards. The overall objective of the GMES initiative is to support Europe's goals regarding sustainable development and global governance of the environment by providing timely and quality data, information, services and knowledge.

Turning to the Employment Council, the focus of the Danish Presidency was on stimulating growth and creating new jobs for Europeans. Ireland will have responsibility for managing the European semester in the first half of 2013. Building on the experience of the Danish Presidency, we will present an agreed roadmap for the handling of the process during our Presidency. Last year's second semester process developed into a full multi-lateral review of the country specific recommendations, CSRs, addressed to each member state. Although member states did not always fully agree with the Commission's proposals for country specific recommendations, there was nonetheless a broad agreement in terms of those issues that represent a challenge for the EU and its member states. There was also a broad acceptance within the Employment Council that reforms are needed but that implementation must remain in the hands of the member states. The operation of the Europe 2020 semester process in the first half of 2012 demonstrated that there are many learning and development insights to be gleaned from the process.

On the trade side, the Trade Council met twice during the Danish Presidency, on 16 March and 31 May. Political agreement was reached between the Council and the European Parliament on two major legislative files - the Regulation governing transitional arrangements for bilateral investment treaties and the regulation reforming the general system of preferences. The Council adopted conclusions on the EU's approach to trade, growth and development based on the Commission's communication on this subject. Regarding the negotiation of EU free trade agreements, the Council gave political agreement to a trade agreement with Colombia and Peru as well as discussing in detail that with Canada as well as the possibility of opening negotiations with key strategic partners such as Japan and the United States.

At the EU-US summit in November 2011, a decision was taken to establish a high level working group on jobs and growth. The working group is tasked to identify policies and measures to increase US-EU trade and investment to support mutually beneficial job creation, economic growth and international competitiveness in consultation with all public and private sector stakeholder groups. The report is expected shortly. Assuming the report will point in the direction of opening up negotiations on a free trade agreement, it will fall to the Irish Presidency to steer through the Council a negotiating mandate for the Commission to start trade talks with the US. In this regard it should be noted that Ireland will be the first country to hold an informal meeting of trade Ministers during its Presidency, which will signal the priority given by Ireland to the EU's trade agenda and its capacity to contribute strongly to economic growth and job creation.

Given the diverse range of dossiers covered by each of the Councils, it is possible to provide only a summary overview on the legislative and policy developments covered by the six monthly report. During our Presidency we look forward to managing and progressing these key dossiers with a view to advancing and contributing to a pro-growth and pro-employment agenda throughout Europe.