Mr. Frans Timmermans:

I thank the Chairman for inviting me to the joint sitting today.

I am here to listen to the member of the committee and to answer their questions.

We are going through a rocky patch of European co-operation. We have had an unprecedented economic crisis. We have not seen this bad a crisis since the 1930's. Ireland was particularly hit by it and it is astonishing for me to be back here after two and a half or three years and to see how this country has recovered so quickly. There are still many problems remaining but it is still astonishing to see the pace of recovery, which has not been copied by any other country that went through such a deep crisis.

Of course, this crisis has sapped our self-confidence as Europeans across the European Union in all member states. Many of our people are wondering whether we are still masters of our own destiny and if we are still able to shape our future, if our children will still have jobs in this fourth industrial revolution and if we will still be able to maintain the levels of social protection we think we deserve, and that we do deserve. All these questions have created an existential question about this European Union and the way we co-operate. On top of that we have seen an unprecedented event, one of our member states deciding to leave the European Union, which has not happened before. We need to tackle that as well.

We have a migration crisis. We have a security crisis in terms of tackling terrorism. We need to step up our efforts to create an economic success for the European Union, we need to make sure that protectionism does not prevail in the debate about international trade and we need to do all of this jointly. I am also here to stress very clearly, however, that the European Commission will be at Ireland's side when we need to take into account the very special circumstances Ireland has to deal with in the Brexit debate. Through its political ties, its historic ties, its geographical position and its economic structure, Ireland is a very special case in the Brexit debate. I want to pledge here today before this committee that the European Commission will take these interests to heart and we will make sure that these interests are heard by everyone during the period of negotiations. For that to be successful, we also need Ireland's very active engagement in this, all of the creativity Irish people can muster to make sure that we find the best possible solution and all the political energy we can muster together to make sure that we do the least harm possible to all parties involved in the Brexit discussions.