Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the strategic compass, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, was mianly dealing with that and it was agreed by the leaders last week. Work on the strategic compass has been ongoing for a number of years and, to be fair, Ireland has had a big impact on drafting it and getting involved in the discussion. To be clear, it is not a common European defence policy. It is just to enable the EU to better anticipate threats, respond to crises and to deepen co-operation with partners. In relation to any activity we take part in, such as the rapid deployment capacity, the triple lock applies. Obviously, decisions will be taken on a case by case basis by Ireland in relation to that. It is also important to remember that within the EU, even with the strategic compass, security and defence policy is a national competence. This document and our own participation in the common security and defence policy does not overrule, prejudge or interfere with our own security and defence policy or that of any other member state. It does not affect our traditional neutrality in any way. It does not affect the triple lock.

In relation to my comments in January on the prospect of war, I will tell you honestly why I felt that was the case. I was at the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting on 2 and 3 December in Stockholm and there were a number of things at that meeting that educated me about the situation. There was a tension in the room, the likes of which I had never experienced in my life. Minister Lavrov was there from Russia as well as Secrety of State Blinken and Minister Kuleba form Ukraine. It was an extremely tense meeting. I also happened to have breakfast with the Ukrainian and Latvian foreign ministers the following morning and my eyes were opened at that point in early December. We knew what was happening but I certainly came away from that meeting realising this was deadly serious and that anyone trying to play it down was not living in the world in which these people were living.

That is what got me and my eyes were opened at that particular point and, unfortunately, for Ukraine, it has proved to be the case in the foresight of their leaders and neighbours. They have certainly known the reality of Russian aggression.

I think it will be helpful if I can go briefly through the applications for membership. These will go through a process with the Commission which we hope will be as quick as possible. In the past it has taken years and these things are not rushed into. In general, Irish policy is that we are very strong supporters of enlargement. This year, we are beginning to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our membership. The referendum took place on 10 May 1972 which we will be commemorating. We joined the EU then on 1 January 1973. We have seen the benefits of what we have received from the EU but we also see the benefits that we have brought to the EU because every country brings something to the table. We are very strong that other countries should see the benefits of the social and economic progress that we have seen.

There are different nuances around the table and while I will not mention individual countries, not everyone would share that view to the same degree as us but everybody wants to see peace and an expanded EU of countries that can be members of the EU. The leaders have agreed in the Versailles Declaration on the position of Ukraine. That was also a very significant moment and one that would not have been predicted before Christmas as these things are changing all of the time. It was very important from our point of view that unity was achieved on the potential application for Ukraine.

We will certainly support the EU aspirations of Moldova and Georgia. These countries have expressed their aspirations and have put in applications in the past while. We will be urging their authorities to continue improvements and we note that the new government in Moldova is very positively disposed to the European identity which we want to encourage. The Georgian Government also needs to work hard, particularly around the rule of law, an independent judiciary and good governance.

We have been very strong supporters of North Macedonia and its application for membership. This country has done a serious amount of work to join the European Union. Bulgaria has an issue with North Macedonia over the past number of years which has prevented progress on that file. This concerns the issue of the language. We have repeatedly asked these countries to deal with that issue bilaterally between themselves and we have given them the example of Northern Ireland where all sorts of intractable issues can be dealt with when parties just get together. There has been progress and there has been a general election in Bulgaria where movement has taken place and we are certainly encouraging that. We would hope that North Macedonia, in particular, can be moved on. We are very strongly supportive of that country which has done so much to achieve this. If Bulgaria can deal with and resolve this issue in a different way, that could happen, I hope, very quickly.

On Serbia, it is technically a frontrunner for EU accession but it needs to improve on reforms and respect for fundamental rights; it also needs to fully align with the common foreign policy of the European Union. It has done that recently in votes at the UN but that has not always been the case. It is making efforts from the point of view of the government but it needs to fully align with the EU’s position on Russia. It has not done this fully this time but pressure was applied at the UN and Serbia voted alongside us at the UN. It does not have a sanctions regime in place, which is very significant for us, and for the people of Ukraine also. We strongly encourage Serbia to continue in its reform path and to align with the European Union on all of these issues.

Montenegro is technically a frontrunner but there are difficulties and we will give whatever support we can to this country, as it moves on.

Albania is similar to North Macedonia and it is tied in with that country. The file will not move until the Bulgarian veto on North Macedonia is removed but once that happens I believe that Albania can move on very quickly and we will support that.

We wish the peace talks every success but one has to be sceptical about Russia. We have seen it here on our own TV screens where Russia has said so much in the past which was not true. It announced that it was leaving the Kyiv region but I understand that there were bombs there last night. We take Russia’s comments with a grain of salt and we judge on actions not on words. We want peace and any talks can be positive.

Energy sanctions could happen but the key for the European Union is energy autonomy. A great deal of work has been done to reduce the dependence on Russian oil and gas. This, obviously, should have happened years ago but it is now happening. The Commission published a document in March which outlined a plan to make us completely independent in a number of years. A gas storage policy is being put in place and we are also looking at the joint purchase of gas in the same way that we did the vaccines. In addition, in talking to colleagues around the European table, some of whom have also said publicly that they are scouring the world to try to find alternative supplies of gas, whether that is in Africa, Asia or indeed from the US. We heard President Biden’s announcement last week and a great deal of work is going on to eliminate that dependence on Russian oil and gas. I do not know whether there will be sanctions in the meantime. Ireland will support them if there is a proposal but it requires all of the member states to agree to that.