Neale Richmond (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Kiely and Mr. Klom to the meeting. They are always welcome guests here and in many other fora.

Mr. Kiely's paper is excellent and fascinating. Much of its content points to a rosy future within Europe. I wish to refer to the key problems that face Europe that he mentioned largely on pages 5 and 6 of his presentation. These are key problems for the European Commission as much as it is for member state Governments and other European institutions. If we do not start tackling these problems then everything in this worthwhile paper will be moot, and they are real and tangible efforts that will make a huge impact on people's lives. The Chairman of this committee has mentioned the key line in Mr. Kiely's presentation, that the people of the UK are now reaping the problem of what years of Euro scepticism will lead to.

When we look to combat Euro scepticism, whether domestically or on a wider plain, it needs to be led by the core institutions of the European Unions and, in turn, the European Commission. Unfortunately, I do not think that the European Commission leads the way when it comes to selling Europe. The European Commission is excellent at engaging, educating and providing a balanced point of view but there are legions of people who make their entire living and livelihood from attacking and blaming Europe. They blame the concept and dream to such an extent that they blame Europe if the weather is too cloudy or hot. We have not seen a spirited passionate response by Europe.

Over the past weekend I read some lovely tributes that were paid to the late Helmut Kohl after he passed away last week. He was one of the giants of European politics. He witnessed the recovery of war torn Germany and knew why Europe was so popular. That generation of people is passing on and the future of Europe is now in the hands of my generation who take everything for granted. For example, they take for granted free roaming for mobile phones that was announced last week. They take the free movement of people across Europe for granted. They take the right to work, the right to live and everything else for granted.

I am sorry for picking on the office of the European Commission but the witnesses are here to discuss the White Paper and answer our queries. The European Commission will say it has engaged and that its investment plan, or Juncker plan, will open up opportunities and lead to investment. We need to see the European Commission take the lead. The Commission must aggressively and simplistically sell Europe. It must sell the dream. Europe as we know it has lasted 60 years so it is time for Europe to be revitalised. We cannot rely on pro-European lobbies to continue that work because they are dwindling and I know because I have worked in the area. I spend my life going to pro-European meetings here. Therefore, I know that the average age of the people who attend such meetings is 70 to 80 years of age. They are Irish people who went to Brussels in the late 1970s and during the 1980s as part of a wave of stagiaires and some of them were the first to undertake the first ERASMUS classes. The next generation are taking all of these wonderful things for granted. The passion and enthusiasm we see for Europe no longer comes from Germany, Ireland and France but from countries that want to be part of Europe such as the Ukraine, Serbia and the opposition movements in Turkey. They are the people who are selling Europe. If Europe does not start to sell itself then the White Paper on the Future of Europe and 60 years of outstanding work will be for nothing.