Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and I thank the Commissioner for his presence today. We appreciate him taking the time to come here to present the report. This current Commission is very open and accessible. The President of the European Commission is addressing both Houses of Parliament in Ireland next Thursday. That is a good sign of openness, transparency and a willingness to engage. I take on board everything that has been said regarding Ukraine and the need for frozen assets to be put to the benefit of Ukraine. I also appreciate the difficulties in doing so.

I am going to concentrate on two issues relating to the rule of law. Some issues have been raised in respect of the Irish chapter and libel laws, judicial appointments, free legal aid and so on. We have also been approached by different civic society groups about those issues. There is no room for complacency. However, Ireland is doing pretty well in the overall scheme of things compared to some other countries, if we look at what is happening in the United States in relation to proposals about voting or indeed what is happening in the United Kingdom. I know the UK is not in the European Union but it has proposals to set aside international law. These are trends that are happening globally. If we take Hungary for example, the rule of law is extremely important. It is the fundamental value of the Union. I would like to ask about Hungary in particular. There was a proposal to withhold 65% of Hungary's €7 billion recovery funds. What is the latest on that? Does the Commissioner consider that the European Commission has enough power to deal with rule of law issues or is it a problem that the European Council is not in a position to deal with many of these issues? I am interested in his take on this. The future of the EU is threatened if these lapses and backsliding go unchecked.

The second question relates to the Commission's proposal for a directive on due diligence. That has not been talked about yet. That is something that we would welcome. At what stage are the negotiations in respect of that?

We have been lobbied in Ireland to the effect that it does not go far enough. Criticisms so far are that the number of companies included should be widened; that 99% of businesses will be excluded and Ireland should not water down obligations for finance in negotiations on this issue in the European Union; that there should be full responsibility for activities overseas; and that the directive should cover full value chains of companies. I am reading from a submission received by the committee, which I can forward it to Mr. Reynders if he does not have it already. Further criticisms are that the directive should do more on climate; there is no enforcement of corporate plans for reducing carbon emissions; and it should enable justice for victims and so on. Mr. Reynders will get the picture. I am interested to know how the negotiations are going and whether he thinks the directive will go far enough.

I will ask another linked question that I appreciate might be difficult to answer. Has anyone mentioned the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the context of the proposed directive and how it might work for various international issues we are considering at this time?