Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 55, 57, 59, 70, 72, 93, 107 and 220 together.

The Lisbon treaty provides for the creation of two major new posts, namely, the President of the European Council and the High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy. These posts will bring greater coherence and continuity to the work of the EU, particularly in its external dimensions. As regards the situation concerning the post of President of the European Council and the appointment of both the President of the European Council and the High Representative, I refer Deputies to my earlier answer to the third Priority Question, which dealt with that subject at some length.

The new High Representative will be tasked with conducting the Union's common foreign and security policy. An important innovation is that the High Representative will also be vice-president of the Commission with responsibility for external relations. The primary role of the High Representative will be to conduct the common foreign and security policy and to ensure consistency and coherence across all dimensions of the Union's external action. The High Representative will carry out that policy as mandated by the Council. It will be an important and demanding post, which will have the support of the European external action service, a significant innovation under the Lisbon treaty.

As the Taoiseach announced yesterday, the Government has nominated Máire Geoghegan-Quinn as the next Irish Commissioner. President Barroso has stated that final decisions on the portfolios of the new Commissioners must await the appointment of the High Representative who will also be a vice president of the Commission. Our objective is that the Irish nominee should secure a good portfolio. The procedure is that the Council will adopt a list of Commission nominees by common accord with the Commission President. This list will be subject as a body to a vote of consent by the European Parliament and, on the basis of this consent, the new Commission will then be appointed by the European Council. The timetable for this may now stretch into January 2010. The independence of the Commission and of its members is a treaty-based obligation which I am sure President Barroso will be underlining.

No decision has been made on who will replace John Bruton as European Union Ambassador to the United States. That decision will be a matter for the High Representative. I am sure that Irish nationals could be among those considered for this post in light of John Bruton's success, as well as of the understanding, based on long and close ties, the Irish have of the United States.

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