Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 6, inclusive, together.

I attended the October meeting of the European Council in Brussels on 28 and 29 October. As I will be making a statement to the House later today, I will confine myself to giving a summary account of the proceedings now.

The Council endorsed the outcome of the task force on economic governance, chaired by President Van Rompuy, and agreed that the legislative measures needed to implement its recommendations be fast-tracked, so that agreement is reached between the Council and European Parliament by summer 2011.

The Council also discussed the question of a permanent crisis mechanism. There was agreement that this was needed to safeguard the financial stability of the euro, and that we need to get the work under way so that the mechanism can be in place by mid-2013, when the current arrangement expires.

The Council asked President Van Rompuy to undertake consultations with member states on limited treaty change to this effect. The Council will return to the matter at its next meeting in December, when it will agree on an outline for the mechanism, and on any necessary limited amendment to the treaty.

While it was not on our agenda, a number of member states indicated a wish to discuss the Union's budget following a presentation by the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek. We agreed to return to the matter at our next meeting in December.

In addition, the Council discussed a number of other issues including: preparations for the forthcoming G20 Summit in Seoul; for the Cancún conference on climate change; and for summits with third countries, including the United States, Russia, Ukraine, India and Africa.

Prior to the European Council, I attended a meeting of the European Liberal Democrat Party, the ELDR, at which I met with a number of my European Council colleagues, including the new Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte. While I had no formal meeting with the President of the European Commission, I did of course see President Barroso at the European Council.

See this speech in context