Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I have outlined on many occasions at the European Council, European Parliament and other meetings Ireland supports the development of the Union to its full potential, including the development of the Single Market and digital market. We need to develop the unconcluded agreements on trade with Canada and the Far East and to implement the framework agreement on EU-US trade which, as the Deputy will be aware, have the potential to create almost 2 million jobs and to increase the economies of the Union by at least 2%.

On the Government's view of the Union, the founding principles of the European Union are that big countries work with small countries, a demonstration of which is the assistance currently being provided to governments working in challenging circumstances as committed to by Europe. The more one helps oneself the greater the demonstration of assistance. After 40 years, Ireland remains a recipient country from the Union. We would like to believe that in time and with proper competency Ireland could be a net contributor to the European Union. This requires us to develop our economy and sort out our problems, thus proving we can be, like other countries, competent, competitive and attractive in terms of location for investment, thus giving our people the opportunity to give vent to their flair and creativity.

I have answered the question about Britain on a number of occasions. The Prime Minister has set out his stall in terms of the repatriation of certain powers from Europe and his view of the British people having an opportunity to decide by way of referendum in 2017 whether Britain should be part or not of Europe. Ireland has been closely aligned with Britain for many years in terms of trade, business and so on. We do not want to disrupt this. The Deputy will be aware that the verdict of the fiscal responsibility referendum was 60:40 in favour of the euro and eurozone from an Irish point of view. The European Union would regard the tradition of Britain being the driver of the Single Market as important. The European Union and Leaders regard Britain as an important element of a new emerging Europe. It is important to reflect again that 90% of the world's trade over the next ten years will take place outside the European Union. For this reason, I would like to see European Union leaders begin to focus on the real priorities such as the implementation of a eurogrid in terms of energy. We are currently losing out in the context of the increasing independence of the United States in terms of energy capacity from shale, gas, oil and so on, which means that costs for major investments in the United States have and will continue to drop and will increase in Europe as a consequence. This is not good. We also need to take account of the aging society in many European Union countries and how we propose to deal with it in terms of the provision of services.

The European Union comprises the largest collection of well developed economies. There is no reason we cannot bring this to a new level with the second greatest economic block in terms of the United States and all it yields. Through Ireland's presidency of the European Council we are trying to make an effective impact across a thousand different fields for the good of the Union, which also helps us. As an exporting country, we need to be lean and competitive and to be able to export quality goods worth €500 million into that market. It is important to note that the new Europe will have to take interest in what is happening across the Mediterranean in North Africa and the Middle East. This is an issue on which Europe needs to reflect carefully. It is also important to note that many countries in North Africa are growing by 5%, 6% and 7%, which presents trading opportunities for a country like Ireland.

In the context of the Union as we know it, we are not reaching our potential because of the struggle and challenge faced by many countries in the eurozone and Europe as a whole. As a Union with a population of 500 million people we have enormous potential to increase that. We support enlargement.

Croatia expects to join on 1 July. I have had meetings and the Minister of State, Deputy Creighton, has been to all of the applicant countries, from Montenegro to Serbia and everywhere else, which want to make a case for joining the European Union once they can comply with all of the conditions required. This is our position on Britain and generally in so far as the Union is concerned.

Through the chairmanship of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, we have allowed the financial transaction tax to go to a working group with enhanced co-operation. While we disagree with this we have not held it up because more than 11 countries support it. Banking union is one area where the finance Ministers were in a position to make a recommendation on time. Following the decision of 29 June, a single supervisory mechanism architecture was established prior to Christmas and approved by the Ministers on the day before the European Council meeting where it was also approved. It is now a part of the discussions which apply. It is expected the architecture for banking union and the single supervisory mechanism should be in place by June, and I hope it is, but I cannot see it being effective or implemented until late this year or, more than likely, 2014. The discussions taking place on the possibility of the ESM being allowed to recapitalise banks is part of these discussions and a working group is being established to consider the principle of extending the maturity dates which applied to Greece so they are also applicable to Portugal and Ireland. They will report back in March. If it is accepted it is of potential benefit to the country.

The programme of the Presidency is to deal with approval by the European Parliament of the multi-annual financial framework. I was to have a meeting this morning in Brussels with President Barroso and President Schulz at 7 a.m. but it was not possible for President Schulz to attend so it has been postponed. We have a responsibility to engage with the various sectors in the European Parliament to get this through, as consensus is required under the Lisbon treaty. Reform of the CAP is of direct interest to us. Ireland is working with our counterparts on 70 pieces of legislation to run an effective Presidency over the course of the next three to four months. It is a very packed agenda.

I see a real necessity for leaders to focus on the bigger picture in a global sense so that Europe has the potential to play its real part. Given the amount of trade taking place outside the borders of the European Union we have a major challenge ahead of us but also huge potential if we have the political will and agreement to get our affairs working as we all know they can.

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