Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

In respect of the meeting with President Yanukovych, we discussed the fact that the ongoing negotiations with the DCFTA could be concluded in time for the EU-Ukraine summit in December. He looked forward to the development of trade links between both countries and he mentioned the important contribution that the Ukrainian community makes here in Ireland. He also said he was confident that compromises would be reached shortly on the small number of outstanding bilateral issues between Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

He recognised that the case of the former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, was an obstacle to completion of negotiations with the EU. He said that the action against Ms Tymoshenko was not a political trial - he insisted on that - and that it had not been initiated by his current government. He said the matter was very complicated; it has dragged on for a while and would now have to be brought to a conclusion. He also said he had decriminalised certain matters. We talked about that for a while and it was part of the EU's response that if there is an appeal it should be conducted in an entirely independent manner and be seen as such.

I also had discussions with representatives of the Netherlands, Austria and Finland. In respect of each of those, we talked about the difficulties facing the eurozone. As we speak, discussions are going on in preparation for the heads of government meeting on Sunday. The Deputy will be aware that ministers for finance will meet on Friday and Saturday. It is hoped that the major issues under discussion can be decided in a way that brings some certainty for the future. I discussed this with Prime Minister Rutte of the Netherlands. I outlined for him our concerns in that Ireland was seen to be a country making progress with confidence towards dealing with our problems. The Dutch have a particular view in respect of discipline and fiscal regimes being able to adhere to their commitments. Prime Minister Rutte has a strong view about that which he has articulated at several meetings.

In respect of the meeting I had with Austrian Chancellor Faymann, we discussed the question of a financial transaction tax. I made the point that this could not apply in sporadic areas and that one could not have a situation where such a tax applied in Ireland but not in London, or vice versa. The Minister for Finance has already pointed that out. We also discussed the EU-IMF programme, growth prospects, economic governance and his rejection of treaty change.

I also met Prime Minister Katainen of Finland who mentioned the collateral issue raised by his country, which has since been resolved. He believes there should be a competitiveness index for Europe because many countries have very different competitive rates. As a triple AAA country, looking at their projected growth figures for next year, they are concerned that Europe would do much better if it had a competitiveness index. I pointed out to him that our Competition Authority reports every year. In many cases the competitiveness report was not acted upon, although it contained some very good suggestions. We discussed the fact that Ireland's competitiveness has improved. Obviously, the collateral issue has been resolved. Mr. Katainen referred to the need to avoid bailout fatigue in Finland. He also said he was inviting speakers from abroad to address issues of EU governance on a public platform in Finland. He invited me to attend in Helsinki sometime towards the end of spring 2012. If we can do that, there might be other opportunities for a number of other areas to be discussed.

Mr. Katainen agreed that it would be difficult to envisage a treaty change at this juncture. There is a crisis here that needs to be dealt with now by using the full flexibility of what was agreed on 21 July. He did not rule out treaty changes sometime in the future but making a comment like that now is not a solution to the current problem. I hope that when we get to Sunday, following the finance ministers' meeting on Friday and Saturday, this can actually be achieved.

See this speech in context