Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman for the opportunity to update the committee on the work I am doing. It is quite a lengthy update as it has been a busy period since we met last September. I ask members to indulge me and allow me to go through my statement. I am happy to take questions afterwards. This month’s General Affairs Council meeting, which takes place next Tuesday, will focus on a number of issues, including a presentation by the Commission on the European Semester; the rule of law in Poland and the values of the Union in respect of Hungary. However, I expect the most substantial discussions to focus on the multi-annual financial framework, MFF, and preparation of the December European Council. With your permission, Chairman, I propose to focus on four key headlines. Of course, members are free to raise any matters they choose during the question and answer session later. The four key areas are, first, of course, the current state of play in respect of Brexit; second, the MFF for the period 2021 to 2027; the Single Market, particularly in respect of services and the digital Single Market, which is going to be a key focus; and the future of Europe debate and citizens' dialogues, on which I will outline what we have done and the report we have published as well as discussions and meetings last year.

Since I last spoke with the committee, we have seen significant progress with respect to the Brexit negotiations. The withdrawal agreement ensures that the UK will leave the EU in an orderly manner. It will avoid a scenario where the UK instead crashes out without a deal, a scenario that would have severe consequences for everyone, but particularly for Ireland. The withdrawal agreement achieves our negotiating priorities. Since the beginning of the negotiations, we have insisted that there could be no scenario that would result in a return of a hard border to the island of Ireland. The backstop provisions constitute an important insurance policy that we will not see the return of any kind of a border on this island. If invoked, these rules will apply unless and until another agreement, which delivers the same outcome, is in place. This agreement was achieved with the support of our EU partners as well as the tireless efforts of Michel Barnier and his taskforce, as well as all of our own Irish officials at home and abroad. We are very grateful to them for their understanding and solidarity. As the Taoiseach said, there could be no better example of the advantages of EU membership for a small country. Under this deal, the Good Friday Agreement and the gains made by the peace process are protected. Rights, safeguards and equality of opportunity as set out in the Good Friday Agreement are protected and EU citizenship rights for people in Northern Ireland are confirmed. This agreement underscores continuing North-South co-operation, which is vital to all of this island.

Last month at the European Council, member states gave their unanimous approval to the agreement. They also approved the political declaration setting out the framework for the future relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom. This document provides us with a roadmap to begin negotiations with the UK on what kind of relationship the EU and UK will have in the years ahead. While the UK may be leaving, it will remain an important partner both to the EU and to Ireland and to that end it is extremely important and welcome that both sides have committed to agreeing a deep and comprehensive relationship. The withdrawal agreement represents important compromises on both sides. However, it ensures that the key interests of the EU and the UK are addressed. As EU leaders have made clear, it represents the best way ahead for all of us, delivering an orderly withdrawal, which we all want, including through an effective transition period, and lays the foundations for a constructive negotiations on the EU’s future relationship with the UK. It is a fair and balanced agreement achieved after long and difficult negotiations and it is in all our interests that it is ratified and not reopened. Of course many challenges lie ahead, and the withdrawal agreement will be subject to a meaningful vote in the UK House of Commons on 11 December, next Tuesday. We hope that Prime Minister May can succeed and that it will be accepted. However, nothing can be taken for granted, and the Government will continue its intensive programme of work to prepare for all eventualities, including a no-deal Brexit, to make sure the Government, industry and citizens are as prepared as possible.

On the MFF, the European Commission published its overall proposals for the EU’s financial framework from 2021 to 2027 in May.

I shall now turn to the multi-annual financial framework, MFF. The European Commission published its overall proposals for the EU Multi-Annual Financial Framework 2021-2027 in May 2018. Since then an intense programme of analysis and negotiations has been continuing at official and political level under the Bulgarian and Austrian Presidencies. The MFF is now a standing item on the agenda of the General Affairs Council, GAC, and I expect that will continue to be the case under the Romanian Presidency, which begins in January next year. At the General Affairs Council next week, we will discuss the latest Presidency report on the state of play of the negotiations. The Austrian Presidency has focused on identifying the key budgetary and associated elements and principles on which agreement is needed. These components will be included in a set of draft conclusions but without the actual financial amounts. The purpose of the so-called “negotiating box” is to single out issues that will be for Heads of State and Government to decide under unanimity. Broadly, Ireland agrees with the elements identified as requiring political agreement. They are broadly balanced and reflect competing priorities for all member states. At the European Council later next week, Heads of State and Government will discuss the progress report. My expectation is that the European Council will welcome the significant progress achieved under the Austrian Presidency and will call on the Romanian Presidency to continue that work on the basis of the Austrian progress report.

It will continue to be a Government priority next year that we secure Ireland’s interests in the negotiations on the EU’s financial framework for the seven years from 2021 to 2027. The Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, as all members will agree, remains a priority for Ireland. Agriculture expenditure helps to support at least 44 million jobs across the EU and contributes to food safety, animal welfare, rural sustainability and environmental standards. The Government is also supportive of programmes to keep pace with the rapid changes in the global economy and to help support jobs and growth. I am thinking specifically of measures such as cohesion funding, the research and innovation budget, known as Horizon Europe, Digital Europe and the Connecting Europe Facility. We also welcome the focus on young people, with increased funding for an expanded Erasmus+ programme, among others. Lastly, we must ensure flexibility in the budget to deal with the potential negative consequences of Brexit and possible consequences of other issues that might arise in years to come.

While there had been initial ambitions to conclude the MFF negotiations by next year, when we know the European elections will take place, that timeframe has become increasingly unlikely. The most important thing is to get the budget right. I expect that the European Council will look to reach agreement on the MFF later in 2019 after the elections. An agreed budget that meets our requirements to deliver on the EU’s programmes and on which agreement can be reached by all member states is essential.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Single Market, a landmark achievement of the European Union. The March European Council called on the Commission to present, by the end of the year, an assessment of the functioning of the Internal Market and remaining barriers to intra-EU trade of goods and services. The Commission’s communication - adopted on 22 November and presented to the Competitiveness Council on 29 November – is entitled The Single Market in a Changing World – a Unique Asset in Need of Renewed Political Commitment. The European Council had been expected to hold a policy debate on the Single Market at its December meeting, based on that Commission communication. In fact a detailed discussion is not now expected to take place until March 2019. Ireland is, however, working with a large group of like-minded partners to ensure that the European Council adopts meaningful, focused conclusions this month calling for a new forward-looking approach for digital policy and Single Market policy, including for services. This is extremely important given that more than 50% of our exports are in the area of services this.

Last month in Brussels, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Heather Humphreys, together with her colleagues from Finland, Denmark and the Czech Republic, launched a report examining the functioning of the Single Market, particularly in the area of services. The report is titled Making EU Trade in Services Work for All and was commissioned from Copenhagen Economics, from which we have had a number of reports in recent years. It finds major shortcomings in EU services sector performance but great potential for future development. Although the Single Market is a key to the EU’s welfare, prosperity, and competitiveness, it has not delivered the same benefits for services - in terms of reducing barriers to intra-EU trade - as it has for trade in goods. The service sector gaps are critical in an economy where digitalisation is becoming the norm, and where services are increasingly an intrinsic part of manufactured goods. The flipside is that there is great potential for improving the functioning of the EU services sector, global competitiveness, productivity, and the EU share of the world economy. I share the Minister's hope that our report will help shape the discussions in 2019. As the Minister said last week in Brussels, making it easier for companies to buy and sell services, especially across borders in the Single Market, is crucial to our competitiveness as digital activity grows. The study is a concrete example of alliance-building by Ireland. The project illustrates Ireland’s ability to build and leverage relationships with other member states to advance common policy interests.

I shall now turn to the debate on the future of the EU which has been ongoing across Europe. As the committee will be aware, last year the Government launched a Citizens' Dialogue on the future of Europe, in which many members here have taken part. It has taken me all around Ireland listening to people discuss about the Europe they want. They shared their views on how we can build a Union that is prosperous and competitive; safe and secure; sustainable; socially responsible; and how we can best equip ourselves to meet the challenges of the future in an ever increasingly global world. The level of engagement was fantastic and the overriding message I heard was one about fairness. People want environmental protection, intergenerational fairness and opportunities for young people while supporting and protecting our older generations. It was also striking to see how much our citizens see the EU through the prism of values. Words like peace, community, education, solidarity and diversity continue to come up in all of the discussions we have. We need to use them and make sure they are at the heart of all the decisions we take about the future of the Union.

In October, I was joined by my colleague Gernot Blümel, the Austrian Federal Minister for the EU, Arts, Culture and Media for the launch of the narrative report on the Citizens' Dialogue. I was delighted to have the opportunity to launch the report, not just with the EU Presidency, but in close co-operation with the EU. I was also very pleased that members of this committee were able to attend and I thank them for that. On a broader stage EU leaders are committed to listening and to responding to the concerns of their citizens. We all want to offer a vision of Europe that people can trust and support. The Citizens' Dialogues are part of wider citizens’ consultations taking place across the European Union; both in member states and at a pan-European level. All of these presentations will be concluded at a dialogue in Sibiu next May when EU leaders will come together. Despite its imperfections, Irish people see Europe at the heart of their future and Ireland at the heart of Europe. In May, an opinion poll found that 92% of Irish people believe that Ireland should remain a part of the EU. This rises to 97% among young people, so it is obviously very positive. These numbers are encouraging, but they are no reason to be complacent. I am sure that each and every member here would agree that people do not spend their lives thinking about Europe on a daily basis. The European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly pointed out at our final Citizens' Dialogue that politics continues to be local for people. We need to make sure that people know and understand how the EU impacts on their daily lives and not just what happens on a larger scale, and how what we are doing reflects the treaty-based values that bind us together as Europeans.

Before I conclude, I will briefly outline two important topics that have been preoccupying the General Affairs Council lately, namely the rule of law in Poland and the values of the Union in relation to Hungary. The committee members will be aware of these issues. The central issue is the rule of law and its application in Poland. In October, the European Court of Justice issued an interim ruling, ordering Poland to adopt measures to temporarily suspend the application of the relevant Polish legislation. Poland has since adopted legislation to amend the Supreme Court law and enable the return to work of judges who were forced to retire. Following on from the hearings in June and September, the GAC will hold another hearing next week. Ours is a Union based on shared values, including democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Ireland has consistently supported the Commission in this matter. We have also emphasised that dialogue between Poland and the Commission needs to result in substantive outcomes that address the concerns identified. Ireland has taken part in both of those hearings to date, and will take part in the hearing next week.

Separately, in September, the European Parliament adopted the report that was a reasoned proposal inviting the council to determine whether there is a series risk of a breach by Hungary of the values on which the European Union is founded. The Hungarian Government has issued a written response in relation to the report. The Commission has also prepared a paper on the values related infringement procedures that it has taken to address concerns with the situation in Hungary. At next week’s GAC meeting, there will be a smaller discussion on these documents and hopefully a proposal on how to move forward. The main issue on people's minds relates to the Central European University in Hungary. I very much regret that it has been forced into a situation where it is required to relocate from Budapest to Vienna.

Academic freedom is one of the fundamental values of the Union and it is a sad day when an institute feels that it has no other choice but to leave an EU member state in order to continue its operations in the way it should. These are issues that we need to raise and address.

I thank committee members for their attendance and apologise for going on for so long.