Ms Barbara Nolan:

I am here to talk about the state of the EU, the speech that was delivered by President von der Leyen in September and the Commission's work programme that was adopted last week. With the European elections coming up in June next year, this was the last state of the union address of the current Commission's mandate, and an opportunity to review what has been delivered and what remains to be done. In a wide-ranging speech, the President outlined how the European Commission has delivered on the commitments that she made back in 2019 when she took office in her political guidelines, and she highlighted the emerging challenges, priorities and flagship initiatives for the years to come.

As I mentioned, last week the Commission adopted its work programme for 2024, which follows on from the state of the union address. The programme was developed against a backdrop of growing geopolitical tensions, not least Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and now the unfolding crisis in the Middle East. Despite the results achieved so far, key proposals are still pending agreement, so an important priority for the 2024 work programme will be supporting the European Parliament and Council to step up efforts to find agreement on outstanding proposals and ensuring that Europe's citizens and businesses can take full advantage of EU policy actions.

I want to fast track through some of the key achievements of the current Commission's mandate, which has delivered a number of milestones for European climate policy, most notably the European green deal that set out Europe’s ambition to become the first climate-neutral continent. All of the Fit for 55 proposals, which many people think are part of some kind of programme for middle-aged people to get fit, aim to reach 55% emissions reductions by 2030 and have now been agreed by the co-legislators. The focus is now on implementation.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent energy crisis has given new impetus to the shift away from dependence on fossil fuels. There has also been a strong emphasis on ensuring industrial competitiveness. The recently introduced EU Critical Raw Minerals Act seeks to reduce Europe’s reliance on critical minerals imported from outside its borders, and the Net Zero Industry Act aims to bolster the manufacturing of green technologies. This Commission has also accelerated the digital transition. With the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act, it is laying down strong foundations for making the EU Single Market fair, competitive, consumer-friendly and safe, especially for children.

The EU is now setting a standard for the rest of the world when it comes to the digital sphere. NextGenerationEU, the EU’s €800 billion instrument to support the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, will make EU economies greener, digital and more resilient through a mixture of investments and reforms in the national recovery and resilience plans. The European Commission has also enhanced the EU’s role as global leader, building on the EU-US relationship and strengthening ties to Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia by combining tools from across the EU’s trade policy, development assistance, infrastructure investment and more in the EU Global Gateway investment programme. Indeed, today there is a summit going on in Brussels of the countries involved in the Global Gateway and EU member states.

Turning to the 2024 work programme, this work programme puts a strong emphasis on reducing administrative burdens. The Commission aims to reduce EU reporting requirements by 25%, which is crucial to maintaining the competitiveness of European business and providing some relief to SMEs. With over 90% of the commitments made back in 2019 having been delivered and only seven months left until the European elections, the Commission has proposed a limited number of focused new initiatives for 2024, aiming to complete delivery of the commitments made but also to prepare for emerging challenges. In fact, we are running out of time in the mandate, in a way, and therefore we have to be quite focused on what we want to achieve in the coming seven months that are left to do that before the European Parliament elections.

I will highlight what is new in terms of the Commission's work programme. Under the European Green Deal, which as members know is Europe’s growth agenda, we will work towards setting climate targets for 2040 to keep the EU on course towards climate neutrality by 2050. I know that all these dates can become a bit hazy, but essentially, the key target is to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. We want to take a further step by setting targets for 2040. Yesterday, the Commission presented yesterday a wind power package, which I think will be of great interest here in Ireland, to accelerate the deployment of wind turbines, improve access to finance and support the international competitiveness of European industry.

The Commission will also present an initiative on water resilience to ensure access to water for citizens, nature and the economy, while also tackling things like catastrophic flooding, like we saw in east Cork last week, and water shortages.

The Commission will continue to ensure that the green transition is fair and inclusive. For example, it will initiate a series of green dialogues in order to fully and directly engage with citizens, as well as clean transition dialogues with industry and social partners. The first clean transition dialogue on hydrogen has already taken place. We are also setting up a strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture in the EU, which will be of great interest here in Ireland.

Turning to a Europe fit for the digital age, the Digital Services Act is now in force for very large online platforms and will apply across Europe from 17 February 2024. To continue making Europe fit for the digital age, the Commission will open our high-performance computers to start-ups working on artificial intelligence. Many of our partners around the world want to work together and develop local industries for processing and refining to strengthen global supply chains of raw materials. That is why the Commission will convene the first meeting of the new critical raw materials club later this year. It will also work on a European defence industrial strategy to support development of member states’ defence capabilities.

The EU economy has shown great resilience in the face of an unprecedented series of crises including the Covid pandemic, the Russian war on Ukraine and the subsequent energy and cost-of-living crises. In 2024, the Commission will focus on challenges related to skills and labour shortages. As many members know, we are currently in the European Year of Skills. We are trying to put the focus on improving skills in the European economy. We are also focusing on education, social dialogue, inflation and ease of doing business. The Commission will convene a social summit in the first half of 2024, to discuss with social partners the challenges facing EU labour markets, workers and businesses including those stemming from artificial intelligence. Next month, we are bringing a group of leading Irish trade unionists to Brussels to meet with the people involved in all the areas of social dialogue and workers’ rights in the Commission and in the European Parliament.

With regard to promoting our European way of life, the Commission will present a proposal to update the framework to fight the smuggling of migrants. As many will know, much of what is happening now is big business in terms of the smuggling of migrants. This is part of our effort to strengthen our response on asylum and migration. The Commission will also organise an international conference on fighting people-smuggling, considering the need for international co-operation and a strong global alliance to fight people-smuggling and prevent irregular migration. The new pact on migration and asylum remains the structural response the EU needs to tackle migration challenges in the future. The Commission will continue to work closely with the European Parliament and Council to finalise agreement by the end of this legislative mandate, as work needs to start already. It is still not agreed and we are still working. We are getting closer to the finish line but we are not there yet.

In higher education, the Commission will propose a blueprint for the future joint European degree, to be delivered jointly by higher education institutions from different European countries and automatically recognised across the EU. This will be supported by recommendations on quality assurance in higher education and on attractive academic careers.

On a stronger Europe in the world, the Commission will push forward our trade agenda and will drive global efforts to reform the World Trade Organization. The reviewed trade strategy of the EU promotes an open, sustainable and assertive policy, which supports the green and digital transformations. It will act to ensure global competition remains fair. Recently, the Commission launched an anti-subsidy investigation into electric vehicles coming from China.

The Commission will continue to stand with Ukraine and provide support in 2024. So far, the Union and its member states have provided around €82 billion in support to Ukraine. This includes humanitarian aid, military equipment and training, material goods for civilian use, including generators, school buses, medical items and evacuations, rebuilding cities, rehabilitating damaged schools, and economic support to ensure the continued functioning of the most critical functions of the Ukrainian state. To underscore the EU’s commitment to stand by Ukraine as long as is necessary, the Commission proposes to create a facility to provide support of up to €50 billion in the period of 2024 to 2027. This funding is needed to cater for Ukraine's immediate needs, to help its recovery and support its modernisation on the path towards EU membership.

The EU’s mutually beneficial partnership with Africa will remain high on the Commission agenda. We will present a joint communication on a strengthened partnership with Africa early next year.

Regarding a new push for European democracy, the European Union must prepare for its successful enlargement in order to foster long-term peace and stability in Europe. We will work closely with our partners as they prepare for this momentous step, including opening the Commission’s rule of law reports to those accession countries that get up to speed even faster. We want to bring them into this review, which is currently only carried out for EU member states. As they get up to speed, we want to be able to have them part of the rule of law reports. The EU also needs to be ready. The Commission will put forward a communication on pre-enlargement reforms and policy reviews to see how each policy would be affected by a larger Union; for example, how the Common Agricultural Policy will be affected by a larger EU and how the European institutions would work. We will also adopt a Commission recommendation on the development and strengthening of child protection systems in the member states. These are just the things we want to achieve before this Commission ends its current mandate.

I will make a very important point about money and the mid-term review of the multi-annual financial framework for the period 2020-27, the EU budget we are currently in. The challenges of the past years have underlined the strengths and capabilities of our Union, but they have also pushed the EU budget to the point of exhaustion despite all the in-built flexibilities and the way in which we can reprogramme funds to use in other areas if they are not being spent. To deal with this, the Commission tabled a proposal to address the most urgent budgetary needs. These include: a deepening of our support for Ukraine; financing our action on migration; bolstering the Union’s capacity to respond to heightened economic and geopolitical instability, humanitarian crises and natural disasters; and boosting investments in strategic technologies to foster long-term competitiveness. That is part one of what we need on the budget. Looking at the longer term, the Commission has also put forward an adjusted proposal for new own resources to help finance the repayment of NextGenerationEU borrowing so it does not lead to an undue reduction in programme expenditure or investment under the multi-annual financial framework. That is a separate proposal looking at how we can bolster own resources for the future in terms of financing all the things we need to finance at EU level.

Against a backdrop of unprecedented geopolitical, economic, societal and technological challenges, ensuring the EU’s competitiveness and economic security is of utmost priority. This is the aim of the EU’s new policy initiatives for 2024. This Commission intends to work until the last day of its mandate to address common challenges.

It will provide strong support to the European Parliament and the Council to facilitate agreements on remaining key proposals, while tabling the few new initiatives still needed to deliver on our promises and preparing the Union for tomorrow. Gabhaim buíochas leis an gcoiste.