Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The European Council meeting which will take place this evening and tomorrow is, as Deputy Ó Cuív stated, a hugely important meeting to address the difficulties we have seen over a period of time in the eurozone. It is important to state that the formal proposals before the meeting are those developed by the President of the European Council, Mr. Van Rompuy, which he was asked to do in October. He has tabled a set of proposals for consideration by the European Council tomorrow.

Separately, the leaders of Germany and France have put together a set of proposals and obviously they will be considered. The first thing we must understand is that the European Council is a council of 27 member states; it is not a Council of two member states, one member state or a small number of states. Agreement must be reached across the 27 member states.

The approach being taken by Ireland to these discussions is that we must address the very real difficulties with the euro and in the eurozone. It has been our belief for quite some time that these issues need to be addressed now rather than having a prolonged period of treaty negotiations. As we know, treaty negotiations can sometimes take a very long period and we have made it clear that we believe it is possible to reach solutions and a resolution of these issues in the existing treaty framework which includes strengthening the ESM and an enhanced role for the ECB.

With regard to the role of the Commission, it has been Ireland's view for quite some time that the Commission must remain central to the way in which the European Union operates. This is what maintains the community approach to dealing with issues. Ireland has tabled a set of observations on the proposals made by President Van Rompuy which reflect our approach to dealing with the euro situation and which also reflect our desire that this country's national interest is protected fully in these discussions. They have been set out in a letter which the Taoiseach has sent to President Van Rompuy.

Our view on tax harmonisation is well known and consistent. We are not agreeable to changing our corporate tax rate. The European Commission tabled proposals on the CCCTB some time ago and we are willing to discuss these. Other member states which initially had been quite enthusiastic about changes in respect of the CCCTB now appear less enthusiastic about it.

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