Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 16 together.

I attended both the formal Foreign Affairs Council in defence Minister format and the meeting of the European Defence Agency steering board which preceded it on 19 November. The agenda for the steering board consisted of the 2013 budget and work programme, the work plan for 2013 to 2015 and a voluntary code of conduct on defence pooling and sharing. The work programme for 2013 was agreed by the steering board. However, as the budget for 2013 could not be agreed, it was referred for decision to the follow-on Foreign Affairs Council meeting. The European Defence Agency steering board adopted the code of conduct on pooling and sharing which comprises a series of concrete actions to mainstream pooling and sharing in national decision-making processes and to be implemented on a national and voluntary basis.

The steering board meeting was followed by the formal meeting of defence ministers. The first issue was the European Defence Agency budget for 2013. As unanimity could not be achieved, it was decided to accept a flat cash budget for 2013. This means that Ireland's contribution to the agency's budget of €30.5million for 2013 is approximately €284,000, the same as last year.

The next point to be discussed was the military operations conducted by the European Union under the Common Security and Defence Policy. There are three such operations at the moment: Operation Atalanta, a naval counter-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa; the EU Training Mission Somalia, an operation to train the Somali defence forces; and Operation Althea, the military mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The meeting warmly welcomed the successes in the Somali region. Piracy attacks are down to the lowest level in several years. To date, 3,000 members of the Somali defence forces have been trained and deployed to secure both the capital and other major towns in Somalia. This training mission is led by Colonel Michael Beary of our Defence Forces.

The meeting was then addressed by the Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Michel Barnier, who outlined the urgent need to optimise our efforts in reinforcing the defence industrial base, which is a significant industry sector and provider of jobs in Europe. A communication from the Commission on defence, incorporating the work of the Commission defence task force, is due to issue in May 2013. There followed a joint lunch of foreign and defence ministers at which two items were discussed, the situation in Mali and the European Council on Defence in late 2013.

It was noted Mali is a multidimensional crisis and the preparations for an EU operation were well advanced. The planned mission is similar to the training mission being conducted in Somalia and will not be a military mission per se.

The final item discussed was preparations for the European Council debate on defence issues in late 2013. The importance of this planned debate was noted as was the occasion to engage EU Heads of Government on defence issues. All agreed that the opportunity should not be missed and that it was highly desirable to be practical as well as getting clear political orientations from the Council on critical choices facing Ministers in the context of defence generally and Common Security and Defence Policy.

I also had several bilateral meetings around the meeting including with the chief executive of the European Defence Agency, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Baroness Catherine Ashton, the Secretary General of NATO and the UK and Polish Ministers attending the Foreign Affairs Council, at which I briefed them on our informal meetings taking place in February in Dublin.

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