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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 17 to 26, inclusive, together.

I attended the European Council in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, 22 and 23 March.

On Thursday, we discussed jobs, growth and competitiveness, touching on the Single Market, digital Single Market, capital markets union, the European semester, economic and monetary union and social issues. Given recent events, the need to ensure protection of personal data in the context of social networks was also discussed.

In a leaders' agenda discussion on taxation and digital taxation, a wide range of different views were expressed, including views on the desirability of interim measures in advance of completion of its work by the OECD. I did not support any interim measure. I emphasised that all companies should pay their fair share of tax and should pay it when it is due and where it is owed, and that our approach should be evidence-based, sustainable and focused on aligning taxing rights with the location of real, substantive value-creating activity. The Council will return to this matter in June and ECOFIN will consider it in the interim.

Partners strongly condemned the attack in Salisbury and offered full solidarity and support to the UK. All 28 member states agreed with the assessment of the UK that the Russian Federation was highly likely to have been involved in the attack and we agreed to recall the EU ambassador from Moscow.

On Friday, we discussed trade, including President Trump's decision to exempt the EU from tariffs on steel and aluminium, at least for now. I briefed colleagues on my meeting with President Trump on 12 March and his particular approach to trade.

On Brexit and Article 50, the European Council considered progress in the negotiations with the UK on the draft withdrawal agreement. Good progress has been achieved in some parts, including on citizens' rights, the financial settlement and transition period. Importantly, the UK explicitly confirmed that the backstop option, as agreed in the joint report in December, will form part of the legal text and it is now engaging on the detail of that text.

The European Council agreed guidelines for negotiating the framework for the future relationship between the UK and the EU. These reflect our ambition for a close partnership, while ensuring a level playing field, fair competition and the integrity of the Single Market. They also leave open the possibility of the European Union revisiting its position and guidelines should the United Kingdom evolve its approach beyond the currently expressed red lines. The European Council will review all the withdrawal issues at our meeting in June, with a view to finalising work on the withdrawal agreement in October. It is important to emphasise that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.

In euro summit format, we also discussed economic and monetary union. I stressed the need, in particular, to focus on areas of practical value, including completion of the banking union and having a deposit guarantee system for Europe.

In the margins of the meeting, I met the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, who again expressed support for our position on Brexit and we discussed our common positions on tax and trade.

I also had a short meeting with the British Prime Minister, Mrs. May, during which I conveyed my solidarity with her on the attack that occurred in Salisbury. On Brexit, I welcomed her Government's commitment to ensuring a backstop forms part of the withdrawal agreement and looked forward to progress on this and on the other options before the European Council in June. I will be making a full statement to the House on this later in the afternoon.

See this speech in context