Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 to 14, inclusive, together.

As I outlined in my post-European Council statement to the House on Tuesday, 16 January, the December European Council met in four separate formats over the course of the two days, Thursday, 14 December, and Friday, 15 December.

The meeting on Thursday afternoon focused on social, educational and cultural co-operation, as well as security and defence. Later that evening, we met as part of the leaders’ agenda on the future of Europe with the focus this time on migration, although a number of other topics were also raised. On the Friday morning, the euro summit considered the future development of economic and monetary union, after which we met in Article 50 format to discuss progress in the Brexit negotiations.

We started on Thursday afternoon with an exchange of views with President Tajani of the European Parliament, before moving on to review progress relating to security and defence. In addition to a discussion on EU-NATO co-operation, the launch of permanent structured co-operation or PESCO was marked.

We also discussed social, educational and cultural co-operation. A number of interesting points were raised, such as including the social agenda as part of the European semester process - although a decision on this was not taken at the European Council. There was also a short discussion around climate change and the "One Planet Summit" in Paris.

Under the leaders' agenda that evening, there was a lengthy discussion on migration. The progress achieved on the external dimension was acknowledged. There was no final agreement on the internal dimension, where further discussion is needed to achieve an effective and sustainable policy, which respects the concepts of responsibility and solidarity.

A number of external relations items were also discussed including Russia and Ukraine, where there was agreement to a roll-over of sanctions, and Jerusalem, where we restated the EU position that our embassies should remain in Tel Aviv.

On Mercosur, given our concerns around the beef sector, both President Macron and I intervened to express our strong views regarding what should and should not be included in any deal.

The Friday morning euro summit took place with the outgoing President of the Eurogroup and the President of the European Central Rank in attendance. Both were positive about the economic situation but cautioned against complacency and urged further reform. We discussed a range of issues, including the completion of banking union, the proposal to develop a European monetary fund and a possible finance minister for the eurozone. I intervened to express my strong support for continuing our work on the banking union and the capital markets union but I also said that I was not convinced of the need for substantial institutional change at this stage.

Finally, the European Council met in its Article 50 format and formally took the decision that sufficient progress had been made in phase 1 of the Brexit negotiations, enabling us to advance to phase 2, during which transition arrangements and the framework for the UK's future relationship with the EU will be considered. There is much work yet to be done and close attention will have to be paid to ensure that all the commitments and principles agreed in the joint EU-UK report on citizens' rights, the financial settlement and the Irish-specific issues are given full legal effect in the withdrawal agreement. This will be our key focus in the coming weeks. I am pleased that the European Council also agreed to negotiate a transition period and to prioritise discussion of this in the first part of phase 2.

I had no scheduled bilateral meetings in the margins of the December European Council but, of course, I exchanged views with many of my EU counterparts, including Chancellor Merkel.

I have not discussed phase 2 of the Brexit negotiations with Prime Minister May in recent weeks and no meeting of the EU sherpas has been convened over that same period, although there is regular and ongoing communication at official level.

During our discussions at the European Council in Brussels, I again thanked my EU counterparts for their solidarity and support on Irish-specific issues. I also thanked the European Parliament, during my address in Strasbourg last week, for its understanding and support in the negotiations. I had an opportunity, too, to meet briefly with President Juncker and Mr. Michel Barnier.

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