Dáil debates

Wednesday, 13 July 2011

3:00 pm

Photo of Lucinda CreightonLucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for his good and relevant questions. The structure has changed. One of the key features in the new arrangements for the Presidency of the European Union is the key role of the European Parliament. That is something that is new. We are very cognisant of that. One of the things all Cabinet Ministers are doing at a very early stage is meeting with their counterparts in the European Parliament, particularly with the chairs of relevant committees. As the Deputy is aware, since the extension of co-decision to pretty much every policy area, the success of the Presidency is contingent on getting our legislative programme through the European Parliament which means we must have strong and coherent, direct engagement by all Ministers and all levels of officialdom, not just during the Presidency but in the build-up to ensure we have a good working relationship.

This country is the first member state in a trio with Lithuania, which takes over the Presidency directly after us in the second half of 2013 and Greece in the first half of 2014. The Deputy asked about the administrative and logistical co-ordination between the three presidencies. That is happening at a political level. It must also happen at an official level between the three member states. Critically, that is pulled together by the Council. So, for example, when this country sets out its Presidency priorities, it can only be done in the context of the priorities for the trio, in other words, the priorities for the 18 month period. Currently, we are preparing our priorities, in consultation with the other two member states. We then feed them into the Council secretariat which pulls it all together, again, in deep consultation with the member states. There is an important role for the central administration in Brussels.

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