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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 6, inclusive, together.

I attended an informal meeting of the 27 EU Heads of State and Government in Brussels on 23 February. This was the third such meeting convened by President Tusk under his "Leaders' Agenda" format, with the focus this time on institutional issues and the post-2020 multi-annual financial framework.

On institutional issues, there was general support for the proposal to redistribute 27 of the 73 European Parliament seats left over following the departure of the United Kingdom. I expressed our support for this move, which will see two additional seats allocated to Ireland.

We noted the European Parliament's rejection of the use of transnational lists for the 2019 elections but agreed to keep the proposal under consideration for future elections. We also agreed that, while European political parties can nominate their candidates for the role of President of the European Commission, the final decision should remain with the European Council. I have already outlined my views on these issues, including in my address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg in January.

Although not formally for consideration, a number of other institutional issues were discussed, including the size of the European Commission, in respect of which we are strongly opposed to any reduction, and the proposal to combine the roles of President of the European Commission and President of the European Council, which we also oppose.

In response to President Macron's proposal for EU-wide public engagement on the future of Europe, I was happy to outline our own citizens' dialogue, which I launched last November and which is being achieved under the leadership of the Minister of State at the Department of European Affairs, Deputy Helen McEntee. The dialogue is scheduled to conclude on 9 May and I offered to share our experience with partners.

In discussions on the next EU budget, the multi-annual financial framework, I noted that a strong and well-funded CAP remains a key priority for Ireland. I acknowledged the contribution of cohesion funding, including the PEACE and INTERREG programmes, which have done so much to support peace and reconciliation on this island. I also acknowledged the contributions of research and innovation initiatives, such as Horizon 2020. I also recognised the importance of newer EU priorities and said that Ireland is open to contributing more, if and where it brings added European value and provided our core priorities are protected.

A range of views were expressed at the meeting including in regard to the size and the priorities of the budget. Further intensive discussions will take place on this following the publication of the European Commission's formal proposal in early May.

We discussed a number of other items, including the importance of finance for Libya and developments regarding Turkey and Cyprus.

In addition to the informal summit on 23 February, I attended a dinner the previous evening at the invitation of Prime Minister Charles Michel of Belgium. I was joined by a number of other EU leaders, including Chancellor Merkel, President Macron and the Prime Ministers of Spain, Italy, Finland, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Luxembourg and Bulgaria. This dinner provided an opportunity for an informal and open-ended exchange of views ahead of the meeting of the 27 Heads of State and Government the following day.

On the morning of the informal summit, I also attended a high-level conference on the Sahel, together with my EU counterparts and the leaders of the G5 Sahel countries - Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger – in addition to representatives of international organisations and relevant parties. The aim of the conference was to bring together the three strands of our support for the G5 Sahel region, namely political and diplomatic support, security and development. I noted Ireland's ongoing commitment to the region, including through humanitarian and development funding, as well as the deployment of Irish civilian experts and defence personnel to a number of CSDP missions in the region.

I had no scheduled bilateral meetings during this trip but used the opportunity of the informal summit, the high-level conference on the Sahel and the dinner event on Thursday to engage informally with my counterparts, including the President of Mali, with whom I discussed our EU mission to Mali.

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