Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 to 30, inclusive, together.

I met Prime Minister Samaras of Greece on Thursday, 23 May. We discussed economic developments in Greece and in Ireland, as well as our respective efforts to secure economic recovery; the Irish EU Presidency; preparations for the Greek EU Presidency; and the outcome of the May European Council, which we had both attended the previous day. While in Athens, I also attended a meeting with representatives of Greek businesses and SMEs.

I visited Vilnius on 6 June for meetings with President Dalia Grybauskaitė and Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius. Later that day I travelled to Riga, where I met Prime Minister Dombrovkis and President Andris Bērziņš. On 7 June, I travelled to Helsinki for meetings with President Niinistö and Prime Minister Katainen. I also met Prime Minister Letta in Rome on 10 June. During each of these meetings, discussions focused on economic matters, including Ireland's economic recovery, preparations for the June European Council, the multiannual financial framework, the ambitions for the remaining part of the Irish Presidency, the proposed EU-US transatlantic trade and investment partnership and bilateral relations.

As Members are aware, I wrote to each of my colleagues in the European Council ahead of the May meeting. I expressed my appreciation for the excellent level of co-operation we had received as Presidency and highlighted a number of areas on which we were seeking further support. I spoke with a number of my colleagues in the margins of the May European Council meeting in this context.

I have spoken to Chancellor Merkel on a number of occasions, both in person and on the telephone, including at the May and June European Council meetings. I also travelled to Berlin on 3 July for a conference on youth employment, chaired by Chancellor Merkel. While I have not formally met with Prime Minister Coelho since my meeting with him on 28 April in Lisbon, I did see him and all my European Council colleagues at the meetings of the European Council in May and June.

The European Council has not engaged in discussions on nominating a candidate to succeed the current President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, as yet.

The agenda for the June meeting of the European Council was prepared in the normal way. President Van Rompuy prepared an annotated draft agenda, which was considered by the General Affairs Council on 21 May, which was chaired by the Tánaiste. President Van Rompuy then circulated draft conclusions for the June European Council, which were discussed by ambassadors in Brussels and were discussed by Ministers at the meeting of the General Affairs Council on 25 June, which the Tánaiste again chaired. In the usual manner, at each step in the process, Ireland contributed views, as appropriate.

As I already made a statement on last month's meeting of the European Council, I will confine myself to a summary overview at this time. The focus of the meeting was on economic issues, with leaders agreeing a comprehensive approach to combat youth unemployment and a new investment plan for Europe. These are developments that I welcome, as they will contribute to addressing key challenges we face. The Heads of State or Government also concluded the 2013 European semester by endorsing country-specific recommendations for reform. Last month's European Council also welcomed the agreement reached on the next multiannual financial framework, MFF, and called for rapid formal adoption of the MFF regulation and associated inter-institutional agreement. One year after its adoption, leaders reviewed the implementation of the compact for growth and jobs, acknowledging that while considerable progress had been made, more remained to be done. The meeting also discussed completion of the economic and monetary union, EMU, including banking union, enlargement and the EU's relations with its strategic partners. The European Council expressed its sympathy with those affected by the recent flooding in central Europe and called for the appropriate financial resources to be mobilised to support relief and reconstruction efforts, as well as future preventive actions. Leaders welcomed Croatia as a new member of the EU as of 1 July and congratulated Latvia on fulfilling the convergence criteria to allow it to adopt the euro from the beginning of 2014.

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