Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have the opportunity to address the House in Europe Week in what is, undoubtedly, an important year for the European Union. This is a time of transition in Europe and, as we put the crisis behind us, we need to look ahead at the challenges that remain. As the Taoiseach and many commentators have noted, we again find ourselves in a time of institutional change. A new European Parliament will be elected this month, to be followed by the appointment of a new President of the European Commission and a new college of Commissioners. There will also be a new President of the European Council and a successor to Catherine Ashton as High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. These changes have growing significance for us all because of the enhanced roles of the European institutions and our ever-increasing interdependence within the European Union and the euro area. While much of the focus in recent years, since the advent of the recession, has been internal, recent events on Europe's borders have served as a stark reminder of the necessity in a fast-changing, multi-polar and often unpredictable world for the Union to act in unison and speak with one voice. The European Union strongly supports the international rules-based system founded on the principles of human rights, justice and respect for international law. This rules-based order is our best guarantee of stability, security and prosperity. What happens beyond our borders can and does directly affect us in Europe, as the crisis in Ukraine clearly demonstrates.

The Taoiseach has spoken about the importance of seeking a negotiated political settlement to the crisis in Ukraine. To that end, the Government strongly supports High Representative Ashton's call on all parties to the joint Geneva statement of 17 April to ensure its terms are fully implemented, including by using their leverage on illegal armed groups to stop violence and provocation and make them hand in their arms. The European Union will continue to be actively engaged in international efforts to facilitate a peaceful and negotiated solution to the crisis, supporting initiatives involving the United Nations, the OSCE and others to that end. At its meeting on 14 April the Foreign Affairs Council expressed strong support for the holding of free and fair presidential elections on 25 May. Ireland is sending a team of observers to Ukraine to help achieve that objective, one which will allow the Ukrainian people to determine their own future and help to build trust and confidence across the country. It is in the interests of the entire region that a sovereign, prosperous, stable, democratic and inclusive Ukraine emerges from the current crisis.

Events in Ukraine remind us of the core achievement of the European Union in creating a stable, democratic and prosperous Europe. We have achieved this by working together in a spirit of mutual co-operation and solidarity, putting ancient enmities behind us. Throughout the crisis, member states and the shared institutions we have created worked together to restore stability. It was not easy and many critics predicted failure, but the European Union has come through stronger and better equipped to meet the challenges of the future. This includes real progress towards banking union, reflecting agreement on what is necessary for both restoring normal flows of lending to the real economy and ensuring there will be no repeat of the current crisis. The Single Supervisory Mechanism will take effect from the beginning of November, followed by the Single Resolution Mechanism from the beginning of 2015. The European Semester will also play a crucial role in strengthening co-ordination of national economic and budgetary policies towards the overarching objective of supporting growth and jobs.

It is clear that economic conditions across Europe are improving. Last year saw GDP in both the Euorpean Union and euro area back in positive territory for the first time since late 2011. Many member states, including Ireland, have returned to net job creation and this year will see a return to net employment growth for the European Union as a whole. However, unemployment remains unacceptably high at around 11% for the European Union and 12% for the euro area. This is at the heart of the growth in support for those parties which reject Europe without plausibly explaining how member states confronting recession, climate change and the need to trade freely within each other's markets and with the wider world on a fair basis could do better in acting alone.

This is not to deny the challenge, namely, that there is more we can and must do to support a stronger, EU-wide recovery in the period ahead. This means unlocking a new wave of investment for job creation and growth.

The recent spring European Council took stock of the Europe 2020 strategy. Europe 2020 is the EU strategy to support growth that is smart, sustainable and inclusive. It is focused on five targets - employment, innovation, climate and energy, education and social inclusion. These are translated into specific goals for each member state and progress is monitored annually. It is clear that Europe's performance against these objectives is mixed and has been overshadowed by our need to respond to the crisis. This is the right time to develop a strong re-engagement with Europe's post-crisis growth strategy, on which a full public consultation will happen in the coming months.

When Commission Secretary General Catherine Day met the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Affairs in January, she emphasised the importance of strong stakeholder engagement with this renewal of the Europe 2020 strategy, including, of course, from national parliaments. Work in this area will be supported by pressing forward on the Single Market and external trade agendas, restoring normal lending conditions through a fit-for-purpose financial sector, creating stronger business networks around our research and development investments and ensuring the supply of skills is aligned with what the market needs. At the same time, we have to ensure the European Union is doing things right and doing the right things. That is why new steps in the area of regulatory fitness are so important - withdrawing unnecessary proposals, simplifying what is already in place and repealing what is out of date. This is an issue to which the European Council will return in June.

The European Investment Bank will play a key role in supporting the new wave of investments needed to deepen the economic recovery under way. This €10 billion increase in its capital base - agreed to as part of the Compact for Growth and Jobs - will support a 40% increase in its lending capacity in the period 2013-15, bringing annual EIB lending volumes to between €65 and €70 billion. There was almost €1.2 billion worth of EIB project signatures and loan approvals in Ireland in 2013 - double what was approved two years ago. I see room for continued and strengthened EIB support, including in the area of access to finance for SMEs. This will remain a top priority for us in the coming months, including the establishment of a dedicated initiative to assist with the provision of finance for exporting SMEs, as provided for in budget 2014.

While creating the right conditions for new job creation across Europe, we must also equip young people with the skills needed to fill them. It is clear that there is a shared challenge across developed economies in adapting the education and training systems to the reality of the 21st century. That is why getting agreement on the key principles of youth guarantee schemes ranks among the most important achievements of last year's Irish Presidency. We finalised our own initial youth guarantee implementation plan in December and published it at the end of January. It will be a phased roll-out initially, targeting those at greatest risk of long-term unemployment. When fully rolled out, all young people will receive a good quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education. We have also set a clear path for returning the economy to full employment through the medium-term economic strategy produced in December.

Over 60 years ago Robert Schuman recognised that Europe would not be made all at once or according to a single plan; rather, it will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de factosolidarity. The events of the past six years, as much as those of the past six decades, surely prove his wisdom and prescience. His early insight remains no less relevant today and can continue to guide our shared efforts in the coming months and years.

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