Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I attended meetings of the European Council in Brussels on 9 and 10 March. As Deputies are aware, I also held a short bilateral meeting there with the British Prime Minister, Theresa May. The European Council agenda included decisions about the President of the European Council and the European Public Prosecutor's Office and discussions on migration, jobs, growth and competitiveness, security and defence and, under external relations, the situation in the western Balkans. The European Council meeting on 9 March was followed by a meeting the next morning of the 27 EU member states without the UK. At that meeting, we discussed the future direction of Europe and the upcoming events to mark the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome.

During my bilateral meeting with Prime Minister May on 9 March, we discussed the situation in Northern Ireland and agreed on the need to re-establish the power-sharing institutions of the Good Friday Agreement. I underlined the importance of making progress regarding legacy issues. We also discussed the implications of the UK's decision to leave the EU and the need to ensure that this does not lead to the reimposition of a hard border on the island of Ireland. I stressed that this presents a significant political challenge and will require a political solution.

Since my meeting with Prime Minister May, the UK Government has completed its internal legal procedures and has indicated that it will trigger Article 50 on 29 March. I hope that we will now see greater clarity on the UK approach to the negotiation process, including how it is prioritising its issues and, in particular, the UK's proposed approach to avoiding any reintroduction of a hard border on this island. Once Article 50 has been triggered, the other 27 EU member states, including Ireland, will discuss and agree our guidelines for the negotiations ahead. The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, has indicated this morning that the meeting of the 27 Heads of State and Government to finalise those guidelines will take place on 29 April. The negotiating process will no doubt be complex and lengthy. However, Ireland has been engaged in intensive preparations since well before the UK referendum last June. This has included co-ordinated analysis of all the issues across Government and extensive consultation, including through the all-island civic dialogue, as well as with a range of stakeholders. Through the Cabinet Committee on Brexit, which I chair, we have identified our particular concerns and priorities and developed our positions ahead of the negotiations. We will publish a summary version of those positions soon after Article 50 has been triggered. Our headline priorities are clear. We want to continue to facilitate trade on the island of Ireland and between Ireland and Great Britain, protect the achievement of the Northern Ireland peace process and the Good Friday Agreement and maintain the common travel area. We also, of course, want to influence the future direction of the EU itself. I have highlighted and explained our particular priorities in all my meetings with my EU counterparts. Ministers have also raised them at every opportunity as part of the ongoing and intensive Government programme of engagement with EU member states and the EU institutions. I believe there is now a good understanding, including in the Barnier task force, of Ireland's unique set of circumstances relating to Brexit and a willingness to work together to address them.

Returning to the European Council itself, proceedings opened on 9 March with an exchange with the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani - the first since his election to the role. The Prime Minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat, then chaired a session in which the position of President of the European Council was considered. Although there was broad support for Donald Tusk's mandate to be extended, Poland had earlier proposed an alternative candidate thereby creating a unique situation in which a candidate did not have the backing of his own country. However, the 27 other member states supported Mr. Tusk and he was elected for a further two and a half year term. Unfortunately, as a result of being outvoted, the Polish Prime Minister did not formally endorse the European Council conclusions despite having no issue with the substance of the text. These were, however, adopted as the conclusions of the President of the European Council. We then took a decision to allow for the European Public Prosecutor's Office to be established under enhanced co-operation. This is an initiative in which Ireland does not participate because of our Protocol 21 exclusion.

Turning to the item on migration, the High Representative, Federica Mogherini, provided an update on the current situation along the migratory routes. The progress in implementing the Malta declaration, which has a particular focus on Libya and the central Mediterranean route, was welcomed. Migration will be discussed again in greater detail at the June European Council.

Ireland continues to play an active role, both within the context of the EU response and at our own initiative. With regard to resettlement, that is, refugees coming from outside the EU, 672 people have arrived in Ireland since August 2015 under the relevant strand of the Irish refugee protection programme. In terms of relocation from within the EU, 320 people have arrived and we are expecting to receive more than 1,000 by next September. Furthermore, Ireland has provided more than €70 million since 2012 in response to those affected by the Syrian crisis. We have also contributed a series of fully-crewed naval vessels to help with humanitarian search and rescue efforts in the Mediterranean and these have rescued 15,621 migrants over the past two years.

Mario Draghi joined the discussion for the next agenda item on jobs, growth and competitiveness. He provided an overview of the economic situation, the economic policy of the euro area, growth and unemployment. There was broad agreement that economic conditions are improving, although unemployment still remains too high and recovery remains uncertain. We welcomed the extension of the European Fund for Strategic Investments and agreed to push ahead with structural reforms. I have spoken many times in the House of the importance which we attach to the Single Market and the digital single market and I was pleased that there was agreement at the European Council to press ahead with the strategies in these areas and to review progress in June.

Our discussions under this heading also addressed trade. We agreed that this remains one of the most powerful engines for growth - supporting millions of jobs and contributing to prosperity. This is a position which Ireland fully supports. We welcomed the CETA agreement with Canada and expressed our determination to push ahead with other agreements while at the same time equipping ourselves with WTO-compliant tools to tackle unfair practices. The Minister of State, Deputy Dara Murphy, will address some of these issues in his address.

Under security and defence, there was a stocktaking of progress since the December meeting of the European Council, when we had a substantial discussion on the issue, and taking account of the meeting of foreign and defence Ministers on 6 March, when some key issues were reviewed. These included crisis management structures in the common security and defence policy, CSDP; permanent structured co-operation, PESCO; the co-ordinated annual review on defence, CARD; and developing civilian capabilities.

The CSDP is designed to advance the role of the EU in crisis management and peacekeeping in support of international peace and security. We support such initiatives, particularly those in support of the UN, and take a constructive and realistic approach. Taking forward work on the crisis management structures of the CSDP has involved the establishment of a new military planning and conduct capability, MPCC, for training and capacity building missions. Our view is that an appropriately configured MPCC, supported through effective joint co-ordination, could potentially deliver more effective CSDP operations. The key objective is to better plan and organise civil and military missions so as to maximise efficiencies, delivering a comprehensive approach in EU conflict management operations in accordance with UN mandates.

Permanent structured co-operation, PESCO, provides a mechanism whereby military crisis management capabilities can be developed by member states in support of CSDP operations. Ireland can support the development of an inclusive PESCO which delivers essential capabilities for CSDP operations in the area of international crisis management. I point out that participation in PESCO is entirely voluntary.

The co-ordinated annual review on defence, CARD, will focus on capability development and the potential to address shortfalls. Again, participation is voluntary. Formal proposals from the High Representative in these areas are being discussed in Council fora. We will continue to consider these proposals carefully, as well as other relevant developments, to ensure that all decisions add value to EU international peace support efforts and are grounded in the EU treaties and related protocols. The European Council also considered internal security, highlighting the need for progressing the entry and exit system and the European travel information and authorisation system, both of which are in the context of implementing the renewed EU internal security strategy for 2015 to 2020.

The last item was the western Balkans. The countries in this region face many challenges, both internal and external, and ongoing reform and regional co-operation is essential. We reaffirmed our unequivocal support for the European perspective of the countries of the western Balkans. Recognising the transformative effect of enlargement and integration, we fully support the European Council's approach to the region.

On Friday, 10 March, the Heads of State and Government of the 27 EU member states met to continue our discussion on the future direction of the union in advance of our meeting later this week to mark the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. There we will agree a declaration outlining the many achievements of the European project, the importance of our core values and how best to respond to the challenges that we face.

We welcomed the White Paper recently published by the European Commission and its useful outlining of a range of possible future scenarios for the EU. From our point of view, l have been clear throughout this debate that our core European values are central to our future peace and prosperity, that we need to remain united and that we must continue to focus on where we can work together and add value. I have stressed the need to press ahead, in particular in relation to jobs, growth and investment. Two concrete examples of where this should happen are the Single Market and the digital single market.

Brexit did not feature on the agenda of the meetings. However, once Prime Minister May has formally triggered Article 50 on 29 March, Brexit will be the focus of discussion among the 27. As I noted, the next meeting to agree the guidelines will take place on 29 April. As I also noted, the Minister of State, Deputy Dara Murphy, will address some of the economic points in more detail in his concluding remarks.

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