Mr. Gerry Kiely:

I thank the Chairman and committee members for inviting me. I am very happy to be here, given the nature of the activities of the committee, as well as ours. I hope we will have a lot in common and that there will be a lot of co-operation in the future. I have only been in the position since last October, having spent almost 30 years working in the European Commission, mainly in the area of agriculture. I have also worked in Washington DC. This is a new scene for me.

I have been asked to talk about the Commission's work programme for 2017 and the role and activities of the European Commission Representation in Ireland. For the first two years of this Commission the European Union has been in a challenging situation, facing terrorism, migration, continuing economic instability and the Brexit question. There have been many issues outside EU policy which have influenced the work of the Commission and the European Union. Throughout, however, the Commission has remained a source of resilience, stability and forward momentum. It is adamant that it is only by moving forward and being decisive that the European Union can meet the concerns of the citizen. That is exactly what the Commission is doing and will continue to do.

As committee members know, every year the Commission adopts a work programme setting out the list of actions it will take in the following 12 months. The work programme informs the public and the co-legislators of our political commitment to present new initiatives, withdraw pending proposals and review existing EU legislation. It does not cover the ongoing work of the Commission in its role as guardian of the treaties or in enforcing existing legislation, or the regular initiatives it adopts every year. In practice that is what most Commission officials work at day to day.

The Commission's work programme for 2017 is entitled, Delivering a Europe that Protects, Empowers and Defends. At the start of the new year it confirmed that it would devote all its efforts to implementing the work programme which was focused squarely on delivery of the ten priorities outlined in the Juncker Commission's political guidelines of July 2014 in order to address the biggest challenges facing Europeans. In spite of these new issues and challenges, President Juncker and the Commission are adamant that the ten priorities stand unchanged and will be delivered on, but that does not mean that many other issues will not be addressed, as they were last year and the year before.

The work programme for this year proposes 21 key initiatives, as well as a further 18 REFIT proposals to improve the quality of existing EU legislation and ensure our rules are fit for purpose.

To ensure a focus on delivery, the Commission work programme also identifies 34 priority pending proposals we have made in the past two years where swift adoption by the Parliament and Council can make a tangible impact on the ground. Both the European Parliament and European Council have further agreed to accelerate work on a number of issues in the joint declaration of the EU’s legislative priorities in 2017 signed by all three EU institutions on 13 December 2016. The pace at which decisions are made has been a cause for criticism of the EU in the past. While there are many urgent issues, it takes a long time for decisions to be made. However, there are good reasons for decisions taking a long time to be made, including the fact that different EU institutions have a role to play, the complexity of the issues and the magnitude of getting it wrong in terms of the potential impact on EU citizens. Decision making takes a long time but there is a commitment on the part of the institutions that we will move faster in the future and reach decisions on a more expeditious basis. With the priorities now set, we will be focusing on delivery and ensuring that all member states make good on their commitments. As President Juncker said in his September 2016 state of the Union address, “Europeans want common decisions followed by swift and efficient implementation”. As the EU heads from Bratislava to Rome, this is what it needs to deliver collectively.

The first, which is the primary priority of President Juncker and this Commission, is to boost jobs, growth and investment. We are proposing a youth initiative, an action plan on the implementation of the circular economy and a new multi-annual financial framework. This also includes a proposal for the European Solidarity Corps. Youth unemployment and employment has been a big issue for this Commission. While all countries in the EU are making headway and the EU as a whole is making substantial headway on the level of employment and youth unemployment is declining, nevertheless it remains a problem. The European Commission has been addressing it with the member states through the youth initiative, which has involved about 9 million young people who were unemployed. Those young people have gone into education, taken up apprenticeship training and so forth. We have about €6.4 billion in the EU budget for 2017 aimed specifically at youth employment. Committee members may be aware that we recently launched what is called the European Solidarity Corps, which is a European framework for young people to volunteer. It can also be a form of employment for young people in charitable organisations. Youth unemployment is a big issue and it is considered a priority by the Commission, Council and Parliament.

We will present ideas for the reform of the EU 27 and the strengthening of the Economic and Monetary Union. We will also propose a European pillar of social rights. One hears many criticisms of the EU today to the effect that it is only benefitting big business and that there is very little consideration given to social issues. In fact, if people analysed the situation, they would see that most of the social protection that exists today in member states has emanated from the EU over many years. That does not mean that we will stop but most of the work on social protection has been done already by the EU. Nevertheless, the Commission is looking at addressing social questions further during the year ahead.

We will continue to pursue a security union to fight terrorism and will align the rules on the protection of personal data and privacy. We will deliver on the European agenda on migration. There has been much criticism of the EU's position on migration over the last few years. People saw the catastrophe as it was but failed to appreciate the challenges posed. We have seen the greatest movement of people since the Second World War. It is important, in this context, to separate the Commission from the EU as a whole. The Commission has been well ahead of the curve in terms of what it believes should be done but it was not always possible to deliver. Equally, it was not always possible for national governments to deliver in their own countries for domestic political reasons. That said, an awful lot has been done, considering the magnitude of the problem. There are some indications that things are beginning to settle down and get under control. The European Union spent something like €15 billion in the last 12 to 15 months on migration and something in the order of €7 billion has been allocated in the 2017 budget for migration. I am not saying that money can solve the problem but it does help and is a good starting point.

We also want to strengthen Europe’s role as a global actor. In that context, we will present a European defence action plan, including a European defence fund, and the Commission and the High Representative will adopt an EU strategy for Syria and implement the EU global strategy and the Africa-EU partnership. On the defence action plan, much has been written to the effect that this represents a proposal for a European army but nobody has mentioned the question of a European army. The defence action plan is about getting co-operation between the defence forces of the 27 member states. To give an example, the combined expenditure by the 27 member states on defence is €200 billion per year while the expenditure by the US on defence is €500 billion per year. However, the EU member states combined only have something of the order of 15% of the US output. It is inefficient, basically. What we are proposing is more co-operation, more common procurement and more interoperability so that armies can co-operate and operate better together when the need arises. The need does arise because many member states are involved in peacekeeping missions in different countries and it is important that they are able to co-operate better in every sense, in terms of the weapons used and so forth.

We will also adapt existing laws to the Treaty provisions on delegated and implementing Acts and will assess the democratic legitimacy of existing procedures for adopting certain secondary EU Acts. In addition to this, the regulatory fitness and performance programme, REFIT, reviews will update and improve existing legislation so it continues to achieve its objectives effectively and without undue burdens. In setting our priorities, we have taken particular account of the 22 opinions delivered by the REFIT platform, the newly-created independent panel of experts which reviews existing legislation and draws on citizens’ and stakeholders’ suggestions for reducing the administrative and financial burden of EU law. In parallel to this work programme, we are publishing a scoreboard which sets out in detail the follow-up to the REFIT platform opinions and the state of play on 231 initiatives for simplifying and reducing administrative burdens in existing legislation. This year we are proposing 19 withdrawals of pending legislative proposals which have become outdated and we will repeal 16 pieces of existing legislation which have become obsolete.

We will also step up our efforts on the enforcement agenda across a range of policy areas, including the Single Market and the environment, because even the best law is useless unless it delivers real results on the ground.

This year’s programme is fully aligned with the priorities identified by the 27 EU Heads of State and Government in Bratislava, and includes proposals which will contribute to the long-term vision of the European Union ahead of the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome in March 2017. The Commission will set out its vision for the long term in a White Paper to be published in March 2017. However, just as important as the new initiatives set out this year is our continued work with the European Parliament and Council to reach agreement on the ambitious proposals which have already been made in the Commission’s first two years in office. Delivering agreement on these proposals will be a priority in the next year.

In all this, I would like to emphasise the role of national parliaments in the process. The Juncker Commission has been clear from the very beginning on the need to deepen the existing political dialogue with national parliaments. Personally, I look forward to continuing to work with this committee. It has undertaken very valuable work across a range of European issues, and I look forward to building on the close co-operation it had with my predecessor.

Let me say a few words about the role of the representation. The European Commission, as the executive body of the EU, represents the common interests of all Europeans. Apart from its main presence in Brussels and Luxembourg, the Commission also has representations in all 28 member state capitals, as well as regional offices in the larger member states. This network of 37 national and regional representations has the same role and engages in the same activities in every member state. The representations are the Commission’s eyes, ears and voice on the ground in all member states. They interact with national authorities and stakeholders and inform the media and the public about EU policies. The representations report to the Commission’s headquarters on significant developments in the member states.

Our activities fall under a certain number of different headings. On the political side, we represent the Commission's interests in the member states, but also follow discussions on Europe in a member state and provide political intelligence about this to headquarters, in order to keep the Commission well informed about latest developments. On press, we engage with the national and regional press and media to inform them about the initiatives and views of the Commission. This also involves social media activities. On public communication, we inform and engage with civil society organisations, and also directly with citizens, on all things related to the EU. Not just informing them, but also entering into dialogue and debate with a view to clarifying the facts and figures related to the EU. On economic governance, we engage and interact with member states and stakeholders in member states on issues and developments related to the European semester and our current mechanism of economic and budgetary surveillance. On protocol, we prepare and manage the visits of European Commissioners and other high-level EU officials to member states in all aspects, ranging from political contacts to citizens dialogues to press work. As the Chairman mentioned, we will have visits from Commissioner Moscovici and Commissioner Vestager, who will be here later this month.

We also engage with citizens, through our citizens dialogues. This is not a new policy, but it is a reinforced policy where the Commission wants to have more citizen's dialogues. We have had approximately 120 to date across the EU. We have had some in Ireland, and we hope that we will have further dialogues with citizens in future.

We also have 500 EU information centres throughout the 28 member states, called Europe Direct centres. We have ten of them in Ireland. Through this direct and local provision of EU information we try to engage with citizens on EU affairs of concern to them. The representation will be organising specific events, such as Europe Day in May, which this year will be focused on the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome. In March we will also have what is called a model EU Council event involving secondary schools from all around the country, re-enacting a Council meeting and discussing the merits of free trade agreements.

During late May we expect to be presenting our annual country specific recommendations to member states, and will organise an event around this topic with partners and stakeholders to give them a first-hand insight into the Commission’s thinking. These are but a few examples of the type of activity we carry out here. We will, of course, be engaging closely with the Oireachtas and the Government during 2017 on the main issues of concern to Ireland.

Since the beginning of the Juncker Commission in 2014, heads of representations are appointed by the President and are his political representatives in the member state to which they are posted. This is a big change in function and status compared to when EEC representations started off six decades ago as information centres. This reflects the changing role of the Commission as it has evolved over the past decades, as well as the very political focus of the Juncker Commission itself.

On behalf the European Commission I look forward to working closely with the Houses and members of the committee during the course of 2017 on EU affairs. At a time of volatility in Europe and the world, it is important that we work together as closely and as clearly as possible. Bratislava is the beginning of a process which must see concrete steps taken on the issues which unite us. The lessons of the crises of past years are clear. We cannot leave our major projects only half-built for decades. A test will always come sooner or later, and a systemic problem cannot be addressed with a last-minute quick fix.

Looking ahead to Rome and our 60th Anniversary, we have work to achieve and we have a vision to set out. First, we must deliver on the positive agenda set out in the 2016 state of the union address, which inspires the Commission’s 2017 work programme. The Commission is tabling all the promised proposals, and counts on the European Parliament and the Council to advance with the necessary legislative framework.