Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I am pleased to have this opportunity again to brief the House ahead of the forthcoming meeting of the European Council in Brussels on Thursday and Friday of this week, 1 and 2 March. The meeting will begin on Thursday evening, with the customary exchange with the President of the European Parliament followed by a first working session and a discussion over dinner. On Friday morning, we will sign the Treaty on Stability, Co-ordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union. This will be followed by a further working session. As we will have a debate on the question of the Government's decision to hold a referendum on the new treaty in a short while, I intend to focus on the important issues the European Council will consider.

The spring European Council is traditionally the annual set piece review of economic policy in the EU but this is no time for business as usual. The main task for our meeting will be to review implementation of the European Union's economic strategy and to ensure it is fit for purpose in this volatile environment. We are now embarked on a strategy that seeks to pursue fiscal consolidation alongside effective steps to boost sustainable economic growth and job creation. This is a good and balanced approach. We need to ensure that efforts in fiscal consolidation lay the groundwork for creating jobs and boosting confidence and in investment in our economies - Ireland has long been a strong and vocal advocate of such an approach.

In addition to concluding the first phase of the European semester process, this week's meeting of the European Council will see leaders agree important EU priorities for a range of international summit meetings over the coming months, including the G8 and G20 summits and the Rio +20 summit meeting. On the foreign policy front, we will address ourselves to the Union's relationship with our southern neighbourhood, one year on from the Arab spring. We will also consider the unfolding horrendous events in Syria.

It is also expected that the European Council will take a decision this week on granting candidate status to Serbia. Ahead of this European summit, the Government has again been highly active in engaging with partners to lay the groundwork effectively for a productive European Council meeting. Last Thursday, I travelled to Berlin and had a meeting with Chancellor Merkel, Prime Minister Petr Necas of the Czech Republic and Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis of Latvia. This small informal meeting proved to be a particularly useful opportunity for free-flowing exchange on longer-term issues for the Union as well as an opportunity to hear what the economic perspectives are in our respective countries.

The following day I met with Prime Minister Mario Monti in Rome. This served as an extremely positive meeting during which we addressed a wide range of issues across our agenda in Europe at the moment. We have a very strong common accord in our approach to many issues - the pressing need for growth to complement consolidation, the importance of completing the Single Market, and our common and unswerving support for the Community method in our engagement at European level. We also both agreed that the trade agenda for the EU is an important element of future business. We need to step up our ability to trade with strategic partners and to continue to grow our economies including through developing our export markets. I was struck by the fact that the last bilateral meeting at prime ministerial level between Italy and Ireland took place as far back as 2004. Italy was, is and will continue to be a major EU member state, with whom we have a great deal in common across the entire EU agenda.

My colleagues in Government have been very active in advancing Irish positions ahead of this week's meeting. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, attended the Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels on Monday last, which laid the groundwork for the summit meeting's discussions on foreign policy issues, most particularly on Syria. The Tánaiste also represented Ireland at an international conference on Syria, held last Friday in the Tunis, Tunisia. He was one of more than 60 foreign ministers in attendance, illustrating the engagement and solidarity of a broad swathe of the international community on the evolving situation in Syria. Similarly, the Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, Deputy Lucinda Creighton, was in Brussels yesterday representing us at the General Affairs Council, which is tasked with preparing the work of European Council meetings.

As a critical element in our ongoing engagement within the Union, I have joined 11 of my European Council colleagues - from a broad cross-section of partners, large and small and from north and south - in addressing a letter to European Council President Van Rompuy and European Commission President Barroso, which sets out eight priority areas on which action can be taken to strengthen growth in Europe. I welcome the fact that President Barroso has already responded to our letter. I am confident this meeting of the European Council is well placed to address economic policy issues, particularly the growth and jobs agenda in a most thorough manner. I will return to this initiative later.

Tomorrow's European Council has a specific role in terms of the European semester process. It must consider the annual growth survey, produced last November by the Commission. This has now been examined by the member states and the different Council formations, especially ECOFIN and EPSCO. The Danish Presidency has produced a synthesis report pulling together the views expressed across these different Council discussions. Tomorrow's European Council is expected to endorse the annual growth strategy. The priorities it sets out are consistent with the Europe 2020 strategy for growth that is smart, sustainable, and inclusive. They align well also with the national priorities established by our programme for Government and we support them.

The European Council will also reiterate its support for Europe 2020, Europe's growth strategy, and to urge member states to redouble efforts to meet its targets. It will call on member states to reflect these priorities through concrete commitments in their national reform programmes and stability or convergence programme updates, which are due in mid-April. Nationally, we will provide a comprehensive review of progress towards achieving our Europe 2020 targets in April.

I note with some satisfaction that, at European level, renewed attention is now being paid to the growth agenda. We have been calling for this for some time. It is an appropriate balance to the established and necessary focus on fiscal consolidation and budgetary discipline. There is consensus in the EU that we need this two-pronged approach. While much of the European semester process looks at the longer-term structural reforms, needed to avoid a repeat of the current crisis, the European Council tomorrow will look also at measures that will have a short-term effect for growth and jobs.

This approach was endorsed by EU leaders at the informal January meeting of the European Council. In order to maintain momentum and ensure that our growth priorities continue to be reflected, last week I joined the Prime Ministers of 11 EU member states in co-signing a further letter ahead of next month's meeting. We called for progress in eight specific areas: the Single Market agenda, and raising implementation standards; a truly digital Single Market by 2015; a genuine, efficient and effective Internal Market in energy by 2014; commitment to the European research area and to providing the best environment for innovation and entrepreneurship; stronger trade links, including with fast-growing emerging markets; reducing the administrative burdens from EU legislation; better functioning of labour markets; and a financial services sector that serves the interests of citizens and business.

Earlier this week, President Barroso wrote back to the 12 authors of this letter, confirming the Commission's commitment to these areas, and listing in detail the action taken or planned by the Commission in each of the eight areas. Other inputs to tomorrow's European Council include a letter from the Finnish Prime Minister on the digital Single Market and a joint Franco-German paper on growth enhancing measures. Our concerns and interests have been reflected in the draft European Council conclusions discussed at the General Affairs Council yesterday, and we are continuing our efforts to ensure these issues remain prominent in our discussions and outputs.

These are not just points of academic interest. The close attention being paid to the Single Market fits with our emphasis on the growth and export potential of Irish SMEs and start-ups. A better functioning Single Market is a better environment for Irish exports, including by removing bottlenecks in key growth areas. We are in the process of rebalancing our economy towards sustainable, export-led growth and we see significant potential in unlocking the full potential of Europe's dynamic market of 500 million consumers.

It is by creating the right conditions for enterprise that we create the right conditions for jobs. Last week saw the launch of the pathways to work initiative designed to help tackle the problem of long-term unemployment by getting people ready to take up jobs. This initiative complements the action plan for jobs launched earlier in the month which concentrates on the economic reforms needed to accelerate the growth of jobs. Both of these national efforts fit well with the renewed growth emphasis at European level.

We must, on the one hand, continue to create the right conditions for job creation and entrepreneurship in an increasingly knowledge-intensive and interconnected global economy, and on the other, we have to improve participation and employment rates with sensible and job-friendly labour market policies. That is the emphasis of the Europe 2020 Strategy, and we believe it is the right emphasis.

The European Council will agree priorities for G8 and the G20 Summits in Mexico in May and June respectively. It will also consider key principles to guide the EU's preparations for the UN Rio +20 conference on 20-22 June 2012.

In regard to the southern neighbourhood question, the European Council will also consider a number of foreign policy issues, including developments in the southern neighbourhood, a year on from the start of the Arab Spring. Although a substantive discussion is not envisaged on this occasion, European leaders will take stock of the latest developments in the region and assess the implementation of the EU's supports to date. Ireland fully backs the approach the EU has taken in its response to the momentous events of last spring. We see developments in the southern neighbourhood as a catalyst for change and an opportunity for economic and social development in the region. We welcome the strong EU focus on promoting an open civil society, with its emphasis on democracy-building, equality and the promotion of the rights of women and minorities.

A key feature of the EU's support to countries in the region is the strong commitment to offer more assistance to those partners who make greater progress towards democratic reform, that is, the more for more syndrome. Those countries that are moving ahead on democratic reforms and good governance are being offered better funding for projects which aim to improve economic growth and boost job creation.

Progress has also been made on the negotiation of deep and comprehensive free trade agreements with countries in the region. The European Council will call for rapid progress in ongoing trade negotiations so as to open up the way for the region's companies and businesses to enjoy greater access to EU markets for their goods and services.

The situation in Syria is one of the utmost gravity which has attracted the almost universal condemnation of the international community. In chilling detail, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry report released last week documents patterns of summary executions, arbitrary arrests, torture, enforce disappearances and violations of children's rights. In the past month, the Syrian Army has escalated its violent attacks, including indiscriminate and relentless bombings, particularly against civilian areas in the city of Homs and the northern province of Idlib. There are thousands of trapped civilians, under merciless assault from their own Government, who urgently require protection and humanitarian assistance.

Ireland has been working intensively with the EU, the UN, the Arab League and other partners in the international community to compel the Syrian regime, through a series of robust economic, political and diplomatic measures, to cease its appalling attacks on the Syrian people. The European Council will strongly endorse the decision of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on 27 February to enforce additional sanctions, including against the Central Bank of Syria, on top of the extensive existing EU sanctions against Syria which already include a ban on oil imports.

I expect the Council conclusions will also voice strong support for the leadership displayed by the Arab League to date, including its peace plan outlined last November and which still provides the best basis for achieving a resolution. The conclusions must also call for a strongly-worded Security Council resolution, which would be a uniquely powerful and resonant demonstration of concern on the part of the international community and would add significantly to the pressure on the Assad regime.

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