Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the ambassador and thank her for outlining a very comprehensive, far-reaching and ambitious six-month programme. I want to focus on three areas. I wish Belgium well in its six-month Presidency. We always have great expectations of a Belgian Presidency because they seem to understand Europe in a way that few others do.

The first issue Ms Van Vlierberge highlighted in the Presidency programme is defending the rule of law, democracy and unity. It is an issue that we have discussed more than any other in the context of the future of Europe, particularly the erosion of democracy, media rights, protest rights, academic freedom and judicial rights within the EU. It seems that some member states can act with impunity in relation to these matters, without consequence. Ms Van Vlierberge has said that it is Belgium's priority is to reinforce media freedom and pluralism and I am interested to hear what specifically she has in mind and how the Presidency will go about that. I am mindful that yesterday Mr. Viktor Orbán and the Slovak Prime Minister, Mr. Robert Fico, met. Among the declarations they made afterwards was a determination to rework EU policy on Ukraine, for example. Connected to that are the comments by the European Commission President, Ms von der Leyen, that the €50 billion package for Ukraine that was blocked at the summit in December would to ahead, even without the support of Hungary. I ask Ms Van Vlierberge to indicate, if she can, how that might be achieved.

My second question relates to energy. Ireland, as an island, is particularly vulnerable obviously. We do not have any direct gas interconnector with any EU country now. Our gas interconnector is with the United Kingdom so we are at the very end of a distribution line. We became even more vulnerable in the immediate aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation. The ambassador said that the integrated European energy network is an important objective. How would that impact the island nations within the EU? Is it intended that integration would include island nations such as Ireland?

I could ask many questions but my third and final one relates to the issue of migration and asylum, which most of us are aware will become a very significant issue in the European election campaign -that is already underway in many instances - between now and June. Some of us are fearful of the rhetoric that might emerge during the course of this debate. Specifically, I ask the ambassador to lay out the remaining legislative files in this area. Is it feasible that they will all be concluded in advance of the end of the mandate of this current European Parliament? In particular, if I may, I want to ask about Africa, in which I have had an interest for a long time. Ms Van Vlierberge made reference to working closely with the EU's African partners. My view on this, having followed political relations between Europe and Africa very closely for a very long time, is that Europe has not given Africa the focus it merits and deserves, as the soon-to-be the most populous continent and our nearest neighbour. I just wanted to make the point that we really need to strengthen greatly our interaction, particularly at a parliamentary level, with African nations. Some countries, including Belgium, obviously have fraught relations with some African countries because of their history. The ambassador is probably aware that the Chinese Prime Minister is in Ireland today. The strengthening of the position of both China and Russia in Africa should be a spur to Europe to greatly strengthen and enhance our co-operation and bilateral arrangements, not only with Africa as a continent through the Pan-African Parliament, but also with individual African countries.