John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I am not going to take the Commissioner's time as we had an opportunity to chat in advance and I raised some issues with him. I thank him in particular on behalf of Ireland for his role as trade Commissioner in his dealings with the United States. We spoke about that. We are in his debt. It is not ideal but when we look at what was facing us, it was a pretty comprehensive deal. We hope it is solid and sealed into the future.

The Commissioner is an influential figure. He is a long-standing Commissioner with a lot of experience. It is clear he does not have political influence but he has administrative influence at the Commission. Aside from trade and economics, what binds member states are the values of the European Union. If the European Union cannot respond in a unified way to genocide or to the weaponising of food in the middle of a conflict that is creating famine-like conditions for people on the ground, or cannot use its influence and power to compel access for humanitarian aid or even for independent media, which are basic requirements of any democratic, civilised state, in Gaza and the West Bank and if the EU does not demonstrate the will to do these things in the medium to long term, that creates a real difficulty for the value system of the European Union. I urge the Commissioner to share that around the table of Commissioners, notwithstanding the historical issues and challenges that some countries face in terms of their own historical past. We accept that there are differences but if the EU is to survive as a value system, then these challenges have to be faced. They are the points I would like to make to the Commissioner.