Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman for his kind words and colleagues for their contributions and questions. I genuinely assure all of them of my deep respect for the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Affairs which is ably chaired by Deputy Dominic Hannigan. I look forward to working with all members of the committee in my time in office. I also thank my party colleagues, Deputies Anthony Lawlor and Seán Kyne, for their questions.

I urge the House to accept the motion. For me, the context is the day in May 2004 which many Irish people remember when the wonderful ceremony was held in the Phoenix Park to recognise the accession of Lithuania and nine other member states to the European Union. We now find ourselves at the wonderful point where, just less than ten years later and less than 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Lithuania, a small country like Ireland and which is also facing many challenges, is moving into its first Presidency of the European Union. This clearly demonstrates the strength of the project of the European Union and the enlargement process. I wish to put this in context in terms of what has happened in Europe during the very deep crisis we are looking to chart our way through. It is worth making the point that despite the deep sense of crisis in the European Union, now 28 member states strong, we still find five countries looking to get in and three other potential candidates looking to commence negotiations. Despite the huge pressure and sense of crisis we all share, many are looking at the values for which the project stands and its institutions and want to join and participate. Deputy Seán Crowe made comments on the eurozone and I look forward to debating them with him. It is worth emphasising that nine other countries are looking to join the 17 members of the eurozone, despite the crisis the eurozone has gone through. Most recently, this has been exemplified, as many Members have mentioned, by the accession of Croatia to the European Union.

I look at the priorities Lithuania is bringing to its Presidency, its programme which, in many ways, is similar to ours and what it is looking to do. One reason I particularly welcome it is Lithuania understands, in the same way as Ireland does, that the way in which the economic and political sovereignty of many countries can best flourish is through integration with their neighbours on the Continent. Amid the huge difficulties and opportunities which small states, in particular, face, the surest way of navigating is through participation in a project such as that of the European Union.

The late Tony Judt, a very famous European historian, wrote a book which inspired in me an interest in European history and politics. The conclusion of this book is that there can be no going back to the world of the autonomous free-standing nation state sharing nothing with its neighbour but a common border.

However, he also concluded that men live not in markets but in communities. These are issues of which all of us as public representatives are aware - the sense of disempowerment many people feel as they look at forces that are nearly greater than their control. I will argue in office, as I have argued previously, that the best way of navigating such of challenges is through a project such as the European Union. However, let us be clear; much needs to be done to get the European Union back on track. While a degree of financial stability has been achieved, that is not the same as economic growth or creating the kind of living conditions and employment levels we all want for the people we serve, just as leaders all over Europe want for the people they serve. That is why Lithuania, like Ireland, has prioritised action on the Single Market, the digital agenda, investment in research and innovation and the external trade agenda, all with the aim of improving competitiveness and meeting the needs of the citizens we all serve and whom we represent.

I wish the Lithuanian Presidency every success in its work in the coming months. I look forward to travelling to Vilnius at the end of August to meet many of my counterparts at the informal meeting of the General Affairs Council. I also take the opportunity to thank all the officials for the wonderful work they have done for our Presidency and for bringing it to such a successful end.

Deputy Hannigan has already touched on the fact that the new Presidency will prioritise how to maintain close engagement with the European Parliament if a country is to secure its own strategic interests within Europe. That is high on the Lithuanian agenda. It is also high on my agenda. I completely agree with Deputy Hannigan’s point that we face a huge challenge in terms of how we reconcile the requirements of economic governance with the prerogatives of political legitimacy. It is a huge tension. I welcome the new frankness in identifying this across Europe. Much needs to be done in this regard. I look forward to discussing and debating the issue in the House and in the Joint Committee on European Affairs chaired by Deputy Hannigan.

The kind of narrative that sustained Europe for a period was about how to rebuild a continent in the context of many countries that had been ravaged. That was then replaced by the concept of how to build and secure Europe in the context of the Cold War. All of that is gone now, and we need a new concept and a new message. Much work has been done in that regard. To date, it has not had the success many of us want, given the fact that the eurozone is now in its sixth successive quarter of contraction and the many difficulties people face. I am clear that the kind of Presidency we recently delivered will be pivotal in rising to the new challenge. I am also sure that the work our Lithuanian friends and colleagues do will be pivotal to that. In that spirit, I commend the motion to the House and thank all my colleagues for their contributions. I look forward to maintaining this work and continuing it in the future.

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