Mr. Ciarán Cuffe:

Great. I will try to be as succinct as I can on this. I want to talk about migration, rule of law and the future of Europe and then say a few words about the European green deal.

On migration, we essentially have to reform the Dublin regulation, which was signed in Dublin many years ago. Without reforming the regulation, we are fuelling the flames of xenophobia in those countries that are receiving more than their fair share of migrants. In countries like Italy, Greece and Spain we are seeing a massive resistance to migration. We are seeing boats being left, thereby allowing people to drown in the Mediterranean. The problems in that regard stem from the Dublin regulation, which simply tells migrants that they must apply for refugee status in the first port they come to. This puts countries like Ireland off the hook. As such, we need to move on on that. The European Council has been stalled on this but it would be prudent for the Government to push for reform of the regulation.

Moving on to rule of law, in the Parliament we are fighting for a strong rule of law conditionality to be attached to the funds that member states receive from the European budget and we hope this will happen. There is also a role for the individual political groups to speak up on this issue. I am very conscious that Fine Gael is part of the European People's Party and parties like Fidesz in Hungary are also part of that group. It is important that political groupings stand up to leaders who are abusing the rule of law and ensure conditionality is put in place. If we look at the conditions of judges in Hungary, or those of women in Poland seeking access to abortion, rule of law is essentially being put to one side in parts of central Europe. We need a strong commitment to the rule of law. Obviously that has to come from the European Union but it also has to come from the political groupings within that Union.

Moving to the future of Europe, the process has been stalled. There is a row going on as to who will lead that convention. Mr. Manfred Weber's name has been in the mix but there are various internal rows about that. We need a convention on the future of Europe. Given what day it is, as we look at the rows going on in the United States and the deep polarisation of politics over there, we need, more than ever, a middle ground that can bring people together and talk about the common, human values that bind us together. As that is inextricably linked to the future of Europe, we within the Greens-European Free Alliance, EFA, group would strongly like to see the future of Europe convention getting going in order that we can have a broad public discussion about what we mean when we talk about Europe and what economic, social and environmental values we want to see. The sooner that happens the better.

The final thing I will mention is the European green deal. As a member of the Greens-EFA group I would mention that, would I not? When one looks at the social, economic and environmental future of the European Union, the European green deal is at the heart of this. It has been espoused by Dr. Ursula von der Leyen of Germany. She strongly wants this to happen. The future jobs in Europe in agriculture, transport, construction and energy will come from the greening initiatives. At the moment there are sunrise industries in Europe and sunset industries. If we want to have full employment in the years ahead, we must fully prioritise the green components of what Europe is doing. There are massive opportunities for Ireland in ocean energy, organic agriculture, in near-zero energy buildings and low emissions travel. If we do not hitch our wagon to those horses we will be left behind.

I will make one final point. Forty years ago I flew into Copenhagen and as we arrived into the airport, I saw wind turbines being erected beside the city. Denmark has surfed that wave ever since. We have a similar opportunity now to embrace a green future that will provide jobs for us in the years to come. If we do not take that opportunity we will miss the boat and lose out on some extraordinary opportunities for Ireland in the years to come.