Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I imagine Deputy Howlin will remember when Martin Schulz came to Dublin in 2009 to campaign for the Spitzenkandidat. The whole Spitzenkandidat process is not something familiar to our electoral system. It may apply to certain continental member states but what if we had a directly elected European Commission President? I mean someone who was really directly elected rather than a Spitzenkandidat or electoral college, one in respect of whom people in Dublin, Drogheda or Gdansk could go into the ballot box and put an X beside the name. Would that really bring Europe closer to the people?

I wish to refer briefly to one final issue that is important. We are talking about the future of Europe and the potential of multispeed within member states. We have to look at the relationship with the entire neighbourhood. I am talking about accession states and countries like Serbia and North Macedonia. We had many hearings in the last Oireachtas. How do we ensure that candidate countries continue to engage with the EU, not only on an economic level but on a social level? Again, this comes back to the rule of law and rights. We are not only talking about accession but departing member states too - the UK has left. Those discussions are going on. In a line or two, what does the Minister of State hope for in the coming days for the negotiations with the United Kingdom?